British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing criticism this week for saying that he was “delighted” at the return to the United Kingdom of an Egyptian man who publicly approved of killing “Zionists,” and who had been imprisoned in Egypt.
Robert Jenrick, a lawmaker from the Conservative Party who is shadow secretary of state for justice and shadow lord chancellor, sent Starmer a letter on Sunday, criticizing his implied endorsement of Alaa Abd El-Fattah the previous day.
“It was a personal, public endorsement from the prime minister. Given Mr. Abd El-Fattah’s record of extremist statements about violence, Jews and the police, it was a serious error of judgment,” Jenrick wrote.
The 44-year-old was convicted in Egypt in 2021 of “spreading fake news” for sharing a Facebook post about torture in the country following a trial that human rights groups said was unfair. He was granted British citizenship in December 2021 through his London-born mother.
In one tweet from 2012, Abd El-Fattah appears to say: “I am a racist, I don’t like white people.” In another, he says he considers “killing any colonialists and specially Zionists heroic, we need to kill more of them.”
He apologized for the tweets after they resurfaced, following his release from prison this month due to a pardon from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, following pressure by the United Kingdom to release him.
Before the tweets surfaced, Conservative lawmakers also campaigned for Abd El-Fattah’s release.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews said the case was of “profound concern.”
Adrian Cohen, the board’s senior vice-president, said in a statement: “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.”
Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform UK party, said Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood should look into revoking Abd El-Fattah’s British citizenship to enable his removal from the U.K. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch expressed a similar opinion.
Farage said in a letter to Mahmood: “It should go without saying that anyone who possesses racist and anti-British views such as those of Mr. el-Fattah should not be allowed into the U.K.”
The Foreign Office said it had been “a long-standing priority under successive governments” to work for Abdel El-Fattah’s release and see him reunited with his family in Britain, but condemned his posts as “abhorrent.”
