Government condemns freed Egyptian activist’s ‘abhorrent’ social media posts

Government condemns freed Egyptian activist’s ‘abhorrent’ social media posts

Helen Corbett

Sun, December 28, 2025 at 4:00 PM UTC

4 min read

Alaa Abd El-Fattah returned to the UK on Boxing Day (AP)

The Government has condemned an activist’s “abhorrent” social media posts, which have sparked a backlash following his return to the UK from detention in Egypt.

Alaa Abd El-Fattah, a British-Egyptian dual national, was detained in Egypt in September 2019. In December 2021, he was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of spreading false news.

His imprisonment was branded a breach of international law by UN investigators, and Mr Abd El-Fattah was released after being pardoned by Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi.

He returned to the UK on Boxing Day.

However, posts have since emerged dating back to 2010 in which the activist appears to call for violence towards “Zionists” and the police.

They appear to be from Mr Abd El-Fattah’s X account, but could not be verified.

Dual national Alaa Abd El-Fattah was detained in Egypt in September 2019 (PA Archive)

Sir Keir Starmer has faced criticism for celebrating the activist’s return. The prime minister said on Friday that he was “delighted” that Mr El-Fattah had been reunited with his loved ones in the UK.

“[They] must be feeling profound relief,” Sir Keir wrote on X.

“I want to pay tribute to Alaa’s family, and to all those that have worked and campaigned for this moment.”

Sir Keir was not aware of social media posts at the time, it is understood, and a No 10 source rejected the idea that welcoming Mr Abd El-Fattah’s return was an endorsement of his political views.

In an updated statement on Sunday, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “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.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for his comments about Mr Abd El-Fattah’s return to the UK (PA Wire)

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said they had raised concerns with the Government and that there was an “urgent need” to find out whether Mr Abd El-Fattah still held the views expressed online.

They 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.”

Meanwhile, the Jewish Leadership Council voiced concerns about the safety of Jewish communities in the wake of recent antisemitic attacks in Manchester and at Australia’s Bondi Beach.

The council said: “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.

“We know from Heaton Park, Manchester, and Bondi Beach that there are those who hear such words as a call to action.

“The Government has celebrated Mr Abd El-Fattah’s arrival as a victory, British Jews will see it as yet another reminder of the danger we face.”

Former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith, who had lobbied for Mr Abd El-Fattah’s release, 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,” he posted on X.

Mr Abd El-Fattah was a leading voice in Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising and went on hunger strikes behind bars.

In 2014, the blogger’s posts on Twitter cost him a nomination for the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize.

The group backing him withdrew the nomination for the human rights award, saying they had discovered a tweet from 2012 in which he called for the murder of Israelis.

Meanwhile, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the prime minister’s remarks constituted a “personal, public endorsement”.

“Given Mr Abd El-Fattah’s record of extremist statements about violence, Jews and the police, it was a serious error of judgment,” he wrote.

In a letter to Sir Keir, Mr Jenrick asked him to clarify whether he knew about Mr Abd El-Fattah’s statements before he posted that he was “delighted” at his release.

“Do you condemn them without qualification, including the endorsement of killing Israelis and ‘Zionists’ and the calls to kill police and burn Downing Street?”

He asked if the prime minister would “correct the record” and withdraw the “unalloyed endorsement”.

“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,” he said.

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