Sir Keir Starmer is facing growing criticism after welcoming writer and activist Alaa Abd El-Fatah to the UK, with opponents accusing the Prime Minister of double standards over online speech and justice.
Alaa Abd El-Fatah arrived in Britain on 27 December after Egyptian authorities lifted a travel ban imposed following his release from prison in September.
The Prime Minister said he was “delighted” El-Fatah had returned and described the case as a top priority for the government.
Downing Street has said Sir Keir was not aware of the full content of Alaa Abd El-Fatah’s historic social media posts at the time he issued his public welcome.
Those posts, written between 2010 and 2012, later resurfaced and caused an immediate political storm. In them, Abdel Fattah referred to British people as “dogs and monkeys”, said he “really really hate[s] white people”, called for Zionists to be killed, urged people to burn Downing Street and told supporters to kill police officers. He has since apologised for the remarks, saying he now understands how “shocking and hurtful” they are and describing them as expressions of anger written when he was much younger.
However, various critics including MP Nick Timothy said: “He’s not ‘sorry for tweets’. He’s sorry he’s been exposed. And he’s not a ‘dissident’. He’s a promoter of terrorism and murder.”
The controversy has been sharpened by the re circulation of footage and quotations from Keir Starmer’s earlier comments in the House of Commons on El-Fatah’s case, in which he described the activist as having been “jailed for the crime of posting on social media”. Critics say that phrasing sits uneasily with the Prime Minister’s current domestic record on online speech.
Opposition figures and commentators have pointed to the imprisonment of British citizens like Lucy Connolly, who were jailed for offensive tweets, as evidence of what they describe as a glaring inconsistency. They argue that while Britons have faced prosecution and prison sentences for online comments deemed unlawful, the Prime Minister has publicly praised and prioritised the case of a man whose own posts included racist language and calls for violence.
Senior Conservatives and Reform UK figures have called for Alaa Abd El-Fatah to be stripped of his British citizenship and deported. Labour has so far rejected those demands, saying there is no legal basis for such action. Abdel Fattah was granted British citizenship in 2021 under a law allowing British born mothers to pass on nationality to children born overseas, without the usual good character checks. Ministers say his comments, while offensive, do not meet the high legal threshold required to revoke nationality or establish a threat to national security.
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has the the power to remove citizenship, however, government sources have said any attempt to do so would likely be challenged in the courts and could fail, particularly as Abdel Fattah has a child living in the UK, which guidance says must be treated as a primary consideration.
Alaa Abd El-Fatah is widely regarded by human rights groups as Egypt’s most prominent political prisoner. He spent more than ten years in and out of jail, most recently serving a sentence for “spreading fake news” after sharing a Facebook post about torture in Egyptian prisons. He was freed in September after being pardoned by President Abdul Fattah al Sisi, following years of campaigning by his family and lobbying by the British government.
His mother, Laila Soueif, who was born in Britain, staged prolonged hunger strikes to push for his release and was hospitalised twice. His sister, Mona Seif, said after his arrival in the UK that the family could now finally begin to heal.
After his release, Alaa Abd El-Fatah told the BBC, “I’m learning how to get back into life. I’m doing much better than I would have expected. Much better than most people would have expected.”
For Sir Keir, however, the row shows little sign of fading. With critics repeatedly contrasting his tough approach to domestic online speech with his warm words for Alaa Abd El-Fatah, the Prime Minister is under growing pressure over accusations that his government applies different standards depending on who is doing the posting.
Main Image: Image: Alaa Abd El-Fatah – http://www.manalaa.net/node/87368 Profile photo of “Alaa Abd El-Fatah. Uploaded: 23 March 2011 CC BY-SA 2.5
