Sir Keir Starmer has condemned as "abhorrent" social media posts made by democracy activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, whom he had previously welcomed back to the UK. Abd El-Fattah, a dual British-Egyptian national, was released from detention in Egypt in September after receiving a presidential pardon.
The UK Government, including Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Justice Secretary David Lammy, had expressed delight at his return and reunion with his family. However, reports emerged of historic social media posts by Abd El-Fattah between 2008 and 2011, which included alleged statements such as calling British people "dogs and monkeys," deeming the killing of "Zionists" as "heroic," denying the Holocaust, praising Osama Bin Laden, stating "police are not human" and should be killed, and expressing hatred towards white people.
These posts sparked criticism from various groups, including the Jewish Leadership Council, which questioned the "effusive welcome" from the UK government in light of recent antisemitic attacks. Senior Conservative politician Robert Jenrick criticized Starmer's "endorsement" of Abd El-Fattah as a sign of poor judgment given these past statements, which appeared to reflect "extremist" views.
A Downing Street source indicated that Starmer, Lammy, and Cooper were unaware of the posts and that the welcome did not constitute an endorsement of his political views. The Foreign Office stated that the government condemns Abd El-Fattah's historic tweets as "abhorrent" and reiterated that he is a British citizen for whom successive governments had worked towards his release.
Abd El-Fattah, a prominent figure in Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring uprising, was detained in September 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison in December 2021 for spreading false news. His imprisonment was criticized as a breach of international law by UN investigators.
Abd El-Fattah's case had been a priority for Starmer's government since taking office, and his return was facilitated by a pardon from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. Notably, in 2014, Abd El-Fattah's Twitter posts led to the withdrawal of his nomination for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize after a tweet calling for the murder of Israelis came to light.