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The decision by successive UK governments to campaign for the release and return of British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been called into question after past violent and offensive social media posts came to light.
The dissident’s historical remarks – in which he appeared to call for violence towards “Zionists” and the police – have prompted a widespread backlash since his return from detention in Egypt on Friday.
Keir Starmer faces criticism after initially welcoming Abd el-Fattah back to the UK and saying his release had been a “top priority” for the government, although it is understood the prime minister was not aware of the online posts at the time.
However, Jewish organisations have criticised the “effusive” response and said the years-long campaign to secure the activist’s release, backed by successive Labour and Conservative administrations, showed a “lack of due diligence”.
After the disclosure of the social media posts over the weekend, the UK Foreign Office condemned the “abhorrent” remarks by the dual national, who was granted British citizenship in 2021 by Boris Johnson’s Conservative government.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Mr el-Fattah is a British citizen. It has been a longstanding priority under successive governments to work for his release from detention, and to see him reunited with his family in the UK. The government condemns Mr el-Fattah’s historic[al] tweets and considers them to be abhorrent.”
Both the Labour government and its Tory predecessors are expected to come under pressure to explain why they campaigned for the release of Abd el-Fattah, who has a British-born mother, when his posts were already in the public domain.
The posts cost him a nomination for the European parliament’s Sakharov prize in 2014. The group backing him withdrew their nomination for the human rights award, saying they had discovered a tweet from 2012 in which he called for the murder of Israelis.
In 2015, Abd el-Fattah claimed his comments had been taken out of context, and that while it had seemed “shocking”, it had been part of a “private conversation” that took place during an Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The decision to grant citizenship would have been made by the Home Office, which at that point was led by Priti Patel, advised by the Foreign Office, where Liz Truss was foreign secretary and James Cleverly was the minister for the region.
Successive Tory prime ministers have also called for Abd el-Fattah, to be released and reunited with his family, including Rishi Sunak who said it was “a priority” for his government in November 2022.
When Labour came to power, Starmer continued lobbying the Egyptian president over Abd el-Fattah, ongoing imprisonment, making three calls to his Egyptian counterpart, while the UK national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, also personally urged the Egyptians to end the detention.
The campaign for the release of one of Egypt’s most prominent political prisoners became a cause célèbre in the UK, where his mother, Laila Soueif, almost died while on hunger strike over his detention.
Abd el-Fattah, finally arrived in London on Friday after Egypt lifted a travel ban it had imposed on him despite releasing him from jail in September. In 2021, he had been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of “spreading false news” after sharing a Facebook post about torture in the country.
After the social media posts emerged, Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, called for Abd el-Fattah, to be stripped of his dual citizenship and deported, adding he should “be made to live in Egypt or frankly anywhere else in the world”.
Writing to the prime minister about his words welcoming the activist’s return to the UK, Jenrick said: “Given Mr Abd el-Fattah’s record of extremist statements about violence, Jews and the police, it was a serious error of judgment. Nobody should be imprisoned arbitrarily, nor for peaceful dissent. But neither should the prime minister place the authority of his office behind someone whose own words cross into the language of racism and bloodshed.”
Several Tory politicians who lobbied for Abd el-Fattah’s release from prison have said they now regret their participation in the campaign. The former Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith, who was among those who had pushed for Abd el-Fattah’s return, urged the police to investigate his comments.
“I do … regret signing the letter calling for the release of Alaa Abd el-Fattah, given his views, that have since come to light, are utterly abhorrent. Had I known of these, I would not have signed the letter. I urge the police to investigate the nature of these extremist comments,” Duncan Smith posted on X.
The Tory MP Alicia Kearns, a former chair of the foreign affairs select committee, added: “I trusted the process to give Alaa citizenship, and then supported the campaign for his release. I feel deeply let down, and frankly betrayed, having lent my support to his cause, which I now regret.
“It is wholly improper for British citizens to be detained without due process by foreign states; however Alaa must unequivocally apologise and make clear he now wholly rejects the hatred and antisemitism he expressed, which is so wholly incompatible with British values.”
The democracy activist was a leading voice in Egypt’s 2011 Arab spring uprising and went on hunger strikes behind bars. His imprisonment was labelled a breach of international law by UN investigators. He was eventually released after being pardoned by the Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said they had raised concerns with the UK government over Abd el-Fattah’s remarks and that there was an “urgent need” to find out whether he still held the views expressed online.
The board said: “The social media history that has emerged from Alaa Abd el-Fattah is of profound concern. His previous extremist and violent rhetoric aimed at ‘Zionists’ and white people in general is threatening to British Jews and the wider public.
“The cross-party campaign for such a person, and the warm welcome issued by the government, demonstrate a broken system with an astonishing lack of due diligence by the authorities.”
The Jewish Leadership Council added: “We are appalled by the effusive welcome Alaa Abd el-Fattah has received from the UK government.
“The prime minister recently reiterated his determination to root out antisemitism from our country but has now shared his delight that someone who has advocated for killing Zionists has arrived in the UK.”
