London
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Prime Minister Keir Starmer is going through calls for for a British-Egyptian human rights activist to be deported and his UK citizenship to be revoked after social media posts emerged by which he referred to as for “Zionists” to be killed, prompting criticism of successive British governments that campaigned for his launch from jail in Egypt.
Starmer mentioned Friday that he was “delighted” that Alaa Abd El-Fattah, 44, had arrived in London after the Egyptian authorities lifted a journey ban that it had imposed on him following his September launch from jail in the nation, the place he spent greater than a decade as a political prisoner.
“I want to pay tribute to Alaa’s family, and to all those that have worked and campaigned for this moment,” Starmer mentioned, including that Abd El-Fattah’s case had been a “top priority” for his Labour authorities because it got here to workplace in the summer time of 2024.
But swiftly after Abd El-Fattah’s arrival in London, posts from round 2010 started to flow into by which he mentioned the killing of “Zionists” is “heroic,” referred to British individuals as “dogs and monkeys,” referred to as White individuals “a blight on the earth,” and mentioned the police are “not human” and must be killed.
Abd El-Fattah has apologized for his “shocking and hurtful” tweets, which he mentioned had been “mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises” and typically a part of regretful “online insult battles.” The activist mentioned that in the actual world, he had persistently fought for equality and democracy and been stripped of his freedom because of this.
“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,” he mentioned in a press release, including that a few of his posts had been “completely misunderstood, seemingly in bad faith.”
Opposition events, the Conservatives and Reform UK, have each referred to as on the authorities to revoke Abd El-Fattah’s British citizenship, which was granted to him in 2021 by the earlier Conservative authorities.
“It should go without saying that anyone who possesses racist and anti-British views such as those of (Abd El-Fattah) should not be allowed into the UK,” Nigel Farage, the chief of right-wing Reform UK, mentioned Sunday in a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
Although it’s understood that Starmer was unaware of Abd El-Fattah’s messages when he championed his arrival in the UK, questions have been raised about how they might have gone unnoticed by the right-of-center Conservative authorities that granted him citizenship and the Labour authorities that pushed for his launch by Egypt.
“The government has since suggested the prime minister was unaware of those comments. Unfortunately, such an admission only compounds his ineptitude,” mentioned Farage.
Alicia Kearns, a Conservative Member of Parliament and the shadow minister for residence affairs, additionally mentioned she was not conscious of Abd El-Fattah’s “grotesque” posts. “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,” she mentioned.
Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, a polling agency, mentioned that, absent a robust rationalization from Labour, Abd El-Fattah’s case may develop into “a defining moment in public opinion,” crystallizing in the minds of some that the authorities lacks competence and has the mistaken priorities.
Although Farage has leapt on Starmer’s perceived blunder, some have accused the Reform UK chief of hypocrisy, since he has lengthy criticized Labour for what he has described as heavy-handed policing of social media posts.