No.10 Comments On Starmer’s Welcome To Alaa Abd El-Fattah

A Downing Street spokesperson has defended the prime minister over his decision to welcome British-Egyptian Alaa Abd El-Fattah to the UK.

It comes after offensive tweets from the pro-democracy activist were unearthed, raising questions about how he still managed to secure citizenship.

Keir Starmer drew significant backlash after he announced on social media that he was “delighted” El-Fattah was coming to the UK after finally being released by the Egyptian authorities.

He was sentenced in 2021 for his political beliefs, and was meant to be released in 2024.

His imprisonment was also branded a breach of international law by the UN and successive British governments had pushed for him to be released.

However, his return to the UK threw up his historic social media posts.

In comments dating back in 2010, the activist previously appeared to call for violence towards “Zionists” and the police, and writing: “I am a racist, I don’t like white people.”

As soon as these old remarks resurfaced, both Labour and the Tories were criticised for trying to get El-Fattah to the UK while in office.

Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said he was a “scumbag” and that he would be revoking his citizenship now under the 1971 Immigration Act.

But Downing Street defended Starmer this morning, telling reporters: “We welcome the return of a British citizen unfairly detained abroad, as we would in all cases and as we have done in the past.”

He added: “That is central to Britain’s commitment to religious and political freedom.

“That said, it doesn’t change the fact that we have condemned the nature of these historic tweets, and we consider them to be abhorrent, and we’ve been very clear about that.”

Responding to calls for El-Fattah to be stripped of his UK citizenship, the spokesperson said: “Clearly, we don’t get into individual citizenship cases.”

He noted that Starmer was “not aware of the historical tweets” until after El-Fattah had entered the UK – and it’s understood the government would have had no means to block his arrival anyway.

El-Fattah also issued an apology over his historic posts on Monday.

He said: “I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship.

“Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.

“They were mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises (the wars on Iraq, on Lebanon and Gaza), and the rise of police brutality against Egyptian youth.

“I particularly regret some that were written as part of online insult battles with the total disregard for how they read to other people. I should have known better.”

The prime minister’s spokesperson said it was ” right” the activist had apologised for his “abhorrent” posts, and that his apology had been “fairly fulsome”.

It comes after a foreign office spokesperson told the press on Sunday: “Mr El-Fattah is a British citizen.

“It has been a long-standing 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 tweets and considers them to be abhorrent.”