British-Egyptian dissident apologises for tweets as Tories push for UK deportation

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Harry Sekulich

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/d890/live/306b3840-e438-11f0-ba29-7da52e5ef3db.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="MOHAMED EL-RAAI/AFP via Getty Images Alaa Abdel Fattah in Cairo on 23 September 2025" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> MOHAMED EL-RAAI/AFP through Getty Pictures British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd El Fattah has apologised for a number of of his previous tweets which have resurfaced, as calls develop for him to be deported from the UK days after he arrived following his launch from an Egyptian jail.

Tory and Reform UK leaders say the house secretary ought to contemplate whether or not Mr Abd El Fattah, a twin nationwide, could be eliminated after social media messages confirmed him calling for Zionists and police to be killed.

The Instances reviews some senior Labour MPs are additionally calling for his citizenship to be eliminated.

After reviewing the historic posts, Mr Abd El Fattah stated: "I do perceive how stunning and hurtful they're, and for that I unequivocally apologise."

He added: "I'm shaken that, simply as I'm being reunited with my household for the primary time in 12 years, a number of historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to query and assault my integrity and values, escalating to requires the revocation of my citizenship."

Mr Abd El Fattah stated he took allegations of antisemitism "very severely" whereas arguing a number of the posts had been "utterly twisted out of their which means".

Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for saying he was "delighted" by Mr Abd El Fattah's arrival within the UK on Friday, three months after he was free of jail in Egypt, however it's understood he was unaware of the historic messages.

The prime minister's official spokesman stated: "We welcome the return of a British citizen unfairly detained overseas, as we'd in all circumstances and as we have now carried out previously."

He added that the federal government has "condemned the character of those historic tweets, and we contemplate them to be abhorrent".

It's understood that the Overseas Workplace has began an inside evaluation into how the case has been dealt with by successive governments.

Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK chief Nigel Farage each stated Dwelling Secretary Shabana Mahmood ought to have a look at whether or not Abd El Fattah's citizenship may very well be revoked to allow his swift elimination from the UK.

Farage stated in a letter to Mahmood: "It ought to go with out saying that anybody who possesses racist and anti-British views akin to these of [Mr Abd El Fattah] shouldn't be allowed into the UK."

A authorities supply stated Abd El Fatteh arrived within the nation as a British citizen and there have been no authorized avenues accessible to dam his entry, even when officers had been conscious of his earlier social media posts.

A 2016 courtroom case additionally meant there was no "good character" check which Abd El Fatteh wanted to fulfill when he efficiently utilized for citizenship in 2021 below the then-Conservative authorities. He was eligible for citizenship by way of his mom, who was born in London.

It's understood that Downing Avenue believes there's a excessive bar to somebody having their citizenship revoked as a result of they should have both obtained citizenship by fraud or be deemed to pose a major nationwide safety menace - a check unlikely to be met on this case.

Any determination of this nature would even be topic to authorized problem.

The Overseas Workplace stated it had been "a long-standing precedence below successive governments" to work for Abd El Fattah's launch.

The 44-year-old was convicted in 2021 of "spreading pretend information" in Egypt for sharing a Fb publish about torture within the nation following a trial that human rights teams stated was grossly unfair.

He was granted citizenship in December 2021 by way of his London-born mom - when the Conservatives have been in energy and Dame Priti Patel was house secretary.

Shadow house secretary Chris Philp - who was an immigration minister below Patel however left the position in September 2021 earlier than citizenship was granted - informed the BBC he didn't know of those particulars on the time. He added he was now clear in his thoughts that "this man ought to have his citizenship revoked".

"There isn't a excuse for what he wrote," Philp informed BBC Radio 4's At the moment programme.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/7533/live/f92d21f0-e495-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="PA Media Shadow home secretary Chris Philp wears a blue suit and tie." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> PA Media In a single resurfaced tweet, from 2012, Abd El Fattah seems to say: "I'm a racist, I do not like white individuals". In one other, he says he considers "killing any colonialists and specifically Zionists heroic, we have to kill extra of them".

He's additionally accused of claiming police would not have rights and "we should always kill all of them".

"There isn't a excuse for that type of language," Philp stated on Monday. "Individuals who categorical that type of hatred, that type of anti-white racism, that type of extremism who search to incite violence, haven't any place in the UK."

Showing on the identical programme, Dame Emily Thornberry, who chairs the Commons international affairs committee, accused Philp of "throwing concepts round that have been simply not primarily based in regulation".

"The underside and prime of it's that he [Abd El Fattah] is a British citizen," she informed At the moment.

"He was entitled to British citizenship, he claimed it so he's a British citizen. The British authorities has been doing their utmost to get him again into the nation and out of jail."

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/75f4/live/76394f20-e496-11f0-9890-3187c4f9b06f.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Labour MP Emily Thornberry wears a red jacket and dark top." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> The UK has obligations below worldwide regulation to keep away from leaving individuals stateless and British citizenship can solely be stripped from somebody eligible to use for citizenship out of the country.

Badenoch stated Abd El Fattah's reported feedback have been "disgusting and abhorrent" and anti-British, including that citizenship choices "should take account of social media exercise, public statements, and patterns of perception".

She stated: "It's one factor to work for somebody's launch from jail if they have been handled unfairly as earlier governments did. It's fairly one other to raise them, publicly and uncritically, into an ethical hero."

She added that Abd El Fattah "ought to have acquired a free and honest trial in Egypt", however "there ends my sympathy".

In his letter to the house secretary, Farage stated it was "astonishing" that neither MPs from Labour, the Conservatives or different events carried out "primary due diligence" on Abd El Fattah whereas they campaigned for his launch.

He stated Starmer confirmed an "extraordinary error of judgement" when he posted on X welcoming Abd El Fattah's return.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews stated the case was of "profound concern".

Adrian Cohen, the board's senior vice-president, stated: "His earlier extremist and violent rhetoric aimed toward 'Zionists' and white individuals generally is threatening to British Jews and the broader public.

"The cross-party marketing campaign for such an individual, and the nice and cozy welcome issued by the federal government, reveal a damaged system with an astonishing lack of due diligence by the authorities."

Whereas conceding a few of his feedback have been "stunning and hurtful", Abd El Fattah contends a number of the previous messages have been misinterpreted.

"For instance, a tweet being shared to allege homophobia on my half was truly ridiculing homophobia," he stated in a press release.

"I've paid a steep worth for my public help for LGBTQ+ rights in Egypt and the world."

UK-based human rights group Amnesty Worldwide stated it championed the activist's case to uphold human rights and freedom of expression, and it doesn't condone "any statements that perpetuate hate, discrimination and division".

A author, mental and software program developer, Abd El Fattah rose to prominence throughout an rebellion in 2011 that pressured the previous Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, to resign.

He has spent greater than a decade of his life behind bars and his launch in September after a presidential pardon adopted a protracted marketing campaign by his household and lobbying by the British authorities.

In 2014, Abd El Fattah was nominated for a European human rights award, the Sakharov Prize, however this was withdrawn over tweets about Israel he posted in 2012.

He stated these feedback had been a part of a "personal dialog" that came about throughout an Israeli offensive in Gaza and had been taken out of context.

After being faraway from a journey ban record imposed by Egyptian authorities that stored him within the nation for 3 months after his launch from jail, Abd El Fattah has now been reunited together with his 14-year-old son, who lives in Brighton.