Egyptian dissident should be deported from UK, Tories say

The Conservatives have called for a British-Egyptian activist to be deported and his UK citizenship to be revoked after social media messages emerged of him calling for Zionists to be killed.

Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for saying he was "delighted" by Alaa Abdel Fattah's arrival in the UK after being freed from prison in Egypt, but it is understood he was unaware of the messages before this week.

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said Fattah should "be made to live in Egypt or frankly anywhere else in the world".

He told the BBC it was wrong for Fattah to have been granted citizenship in the first place - something that took place in 2021 when the Conservatives were in power.

The Foreign Office said it had been "a long-standing priority under successive governments" to work for Fattah's release and see him reunited with his family in the UK, but condemned his "abhorrent" posts.

Fattah arrived in the UK this week after being convicted in 2021 of "spreading fake news" in Egypt for sharing a Facebook post about torture in the country. His family has been approached for comment.

He was granted citizenship in December 2021 through his London-born mother.

Jenrick said he did not consider it "defensible" that Fattah received citizenship when his social media showed that he had "extremist views that are completely incompatible with British values".

Conservative governments, including ones in which Jenrick served, also repeatedly campaigned for Fattah's release and the shadow justice secretary said the case was a "major failure of the British state".

Jenrick said: "Successive governments and civil servants at the Foreign Office and the Home Office have advised ministers that this is a consular case to be supported, when in fact a cursory examination of... social media shows that he is a man with not just extremist views - but absolutely abhorrent views who hates our country and should not be receiving the support and generosity of people here in the UK."

He urged the government to "rectify this situation by being clear that they distance themselves and our country wholeheartedly from his views and begin proceedings to revoke his citizenship and have him removed from the UK".

Speaking earlier on GB News, Jenrick criticised senior ministers for "rejoicing at the fact this man was coming here, bragging that they'd achieved some kind of diplomatic coup".

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

Adrian Cohen, the board's senior vice-president, said: "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."

Fattah is also accused of saying the police do not have rights and "we should kill them all".

Fattah's release in September followed a long campaign by his family - backed by celebrities such as actresses Dame Judi Dench and Olivia Colman - and lobbying by the British government.

He had spent more than a decade of his life behind bars, including being handed a five-year sentence in December 2021 following a trial that human rights groups said was grossly unfair.

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith signed a cross-party letter in December last year urging the government to secure his release in Egypt.

Writing on X on Sunday, Sir Iain said: "I do, however 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."

A Labour source accused Jenrick of trying to rewrite history for his own political advantage.

A writer, intellectual and software developer, Fattah rose to prominence during an uprising in 2011 that forced the former Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, to resign.

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

He said his comments had been part of a "private conversation" that took place during an Israeli offensive in Gaza and had been taken out of context.

After being removed from a travel ban list imposed by Egyptian authorities that kept him in the country for three months after his release from jail, Fattah has now reunited with his 14-year-old son, who lives in Brighton.

Speaking to the BBC from Cairo in October after his release, he said: "I'm learning how to get back into life."

He added: "I'm doing much better than I would have expected. Much better than most people would have expected."