The Home Office has overturned its decision to deny a visit visa for the father of the chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council after the Guardian highlighted his plight, a public outcry and repeated questions in parliament.

Sabir Zazai, the 2019 winner of the Lord Provost’s award for human rights, wanted his father to see him receive an honorary doctorate from the University of Glasgow for his services to civil society over the last 20 years in the UK.

But the Home Office refused, saying it did not believe the 79-year-old would return home to Afghanistan after the ceremony.

“My mother died last year without seeing her three grandchildren because the Home Office repeatedly denied her the right to visit us in the UK,” said Zazai. “My nine-year-old daughter asked me last week whether that would happen with her grandfather too: that he would die before they ever got to see him again.”

Despite having confirmed its refusal in a personal email earlier this month from the private secretary to the director general of UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) to Zazai, the Home Office rang Zazai on Tuesday to say his father would be able to visit after all.

“They just said there had been a review and the decision had been overturned,” said Zazai. “I find it a little bit surprising because if you get a no from the private secretary to the director general of UKVI, then there’s a public outcry and that no becomes a yes, it shows that the Home Office is in a bit of a mess.”

Zazai, a refugee himself, is a personal friend of the bishop of Coventry and the chair of City of Sanctuary UK. The case of his father – who has been refused the right to visit three times over the past eight years – has been taken up by MPs and public figures. Two MPs have separately raised the issue as a point of order in the House of Commons.

“The public outcry around my case shows that people don’t want to live in a society where basic human rights – in the case of my children and me, the right to a family life – depend on the degree of public protest you can generate,” he said.

Most of the rights to appeal against immigration decisions were abolished in 2013 under the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government. Only some – but not all – claims involving asylum, the revocation of refugee status or a human rights claim can be appealed. People cannot appeal against refusals of family visit visas.

“This has really affected me,” said Zazai. “I have worked hard over the past 20 years to become part of British society. I have overcome great barriers and then I am told I am not trusted.

“But this fight was never just about me,” he added, “The whole immigration application process is designed to lead to a refusal. I had a voice but there are thousands of other people who just have to accept the injustice of their families being endlessly refused the right to visit them.

Prof Sir Anton Muscatelli, the principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “We are delighted the Home Office has reversed its earlier decision and that the father of Sabir Zazai will now be able join us at the University of Glasgow to watch his son being conferred with an honorary doctorate for services to civil society.”

The Home Office has declined to comment.

