Another free speech row at a literary festival has erupted, with Adelaide University abruptly cancelling a high-profile event featuring UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese.

The move has prompted the festival’s organisers and speakers to accuse the 152 year-old institution of “crumbling in fear”.

The event is part of Constellations: Not Writers’ Week, the popup literary festival that emerged after the cancelled Adelaide Writers Week.

It was scheduled to take place at the university’s Elder Hall on Thursday night. But organisers said the university told them on Monday that certain requirements had not been adhered to and cancelled the booking.

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A new venue to accommodate 650 in-person ticket holders has been secured at Norwood Concert Hall.

Albanese, a human rights lawyer, will appear via video link – alongside academics Prof Henry Reynolds and Dr Lana Tatour – to discuss settler colonialism.

Louise Adler, the former director of Adelaide Writers’ Week who headlined another of the festival’s events on Sunday, lashed out at the decision.

“Welcome once again to Moscow on the Torrens,” she said in a statement.

“Universities, the arts, and the media were once respected as sites where controversial ideas could be tested. That is no longer a given. We are witnessing relentless campaigning by sectional groups and their influence over politicians … the conversations possible in the public square are being seriously impoverished.”

The organisers of the event – the Association for the Promotion of International Law (APIL) – said the university justified the cancellation by claiming the booking “did not proceed in accordance with due process”.

In a statement, Adelaide University said it was unaware of the “external event” until last Friday.

“Following further exploration of the matter, the university could not accept the venue booking, as it did not go through the required review and approval process in accordance with the required policy and procedure,” the statement said.

“Unfortunately, this left the university with no other choice other than to advise the organisers that it could not provide the necessary support, ensure the safety, respect and comfort of those attending or deliver the quality in keeping with the university’s standards when it comes to public events of this size and scale.”

APIL disputed those claims, saying they first contacted the university on 3 February, and worked with Elder Hall management for weeks before submitting a formal booking on 20 February.

“At no stage, until early this week, were any issues of due process raised,” an APIL spokesperson said.

The venue cancellation follows a report in The Australian that suggested that a university providing a platform for Albanese – who has been vocal in calling for an end to what she describes as the “genocide” that Israel is waging against Palestinians in Gaza – could be in defiance of US sanctions.

In July, the Trump administration placed Albanese’s name on the US Treasury’s sanctions list, with the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, accusing her of “lawfare” and “political and economic warfare” against US and Israeli interests.

“Albanese has spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism, and open contempt for the United States, Israel, and the West,” Rubio’s 9 July statement said, announcing the sanctions against Albanese.

The APIL has accused Adelaide University of bowing to the media pressure.

An UN independent commission member, Chris Sidoti, who will be the facilitator of the panel discussion, said the sanctions argument was an attempt to “intimidate”, noting that Albanese speaks at universities worldwide without issue.

“For Adelaide University to crumble in fear of possible criticism by imposing a regime of censorship in Australia is reprehensible,” Sidoti said. “A university incapable of upholding free speech no longer merits to be called a university.”

The statement from Adelaide University said it “prides itself on being a place where event attendees are welcomed and where the exchange of ideas can happen freely”.