Historic tweets spark demands for citizenship removal days after activist was welcomed to the UK
Sir Keir Starmer is facing mounting political pressure to strip British citizenship from Alaa Abd el-Fattah after historic social media posts attributed to him resurfaced, containing calls for violence and derogatory remarks about British people.
Abd el-Fattah, an Egyptian activist who was imprisoned in Cairo from 2019 until September, returned to the UK over the weekend after Egypt lifted a travel ban. He was publicly welcomed by the Prime Minister, a move that has since drawn fierce criticism after posts allegedly written by him between 2010 and 2012 began circulating online.
The posts include language describing British people as “dogs and monkeys” and statements calling for the killing of Zionists. Their emergence has triggered widespread condemnation and raised questions about how Abd el-Fattah was granted British citizenship in 2021.
He obtained citizenship through his mother, who was born in Britain. According to reports, his application did not undergo standard “good character” checks because of a legal loophole linked to the European Convention on Human Rights. That revelation has intensified scrutiny of both past and current governments.
In a statement released on Monday, Abd el-Fattah apologised “unequivocally” for what he described as shocking and hurtful language contained in some of the tweets. However, he claimed that several posts had been misrepresented or taken out of context.
He said he was deeply shaken that the tweets had resurfaced just as he was reuniting with his family for the first time in 12 years, and that they were now being used to call his integrity and values into question.
Looking back at the posts, Abd el-Fattah said he understood how offensive they appeared and accepted responsibility for the harm caused. He described them as expressions of anger written during a period marked by wars in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza, alongside rising police brutality in Egypt.
He added that some tweets emerged from online arguments in which he showed total disregard for how his words might be read by others, admitting that he should have known better at the time.
Despite the apology, political pressure has continued to build. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wrote to the Home Secretary, urging immediate action, calling the decision to welcome Abd el-Fattah to Britain an extraordinary error of judgment. He argued that anyone holding racist or anti-British views should not be allowed to remain in the country.
The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, also called for deportation, saying she did not want people who hate Britain living in the UK.
Abd el-Fattah said he takes accusations of antisemitism extremely seriously and insisted some tweets had been deliberately misinterpreted. He argued that one post cited as evidence of homophobia was in fact mocking homophobia, and said he had paid a steep personal price for supporting LGBTQ rights in Egypt.
He also rejected claims that he had denied the Holocaust, stating that the exchange being shared actually showed him ridiculing Holocaust denial rather than endorsing it.
Both Labour and Conservative figures said they were previously unaware of the historic posts, despite his nomination for an EU diplomacy prize being withdrawn in 2014 over similar content.
On Friday, Sir Keir said he was delighted to welcome Abd el-Fattah to Britain following his release and the lifting of travel restrictions. Since then, the controversy has placed the Prime Minister under intense scrutiny, with demands growing for decisive action as the political fallout continues.