UK MPs dig up decade-old tweets to demand rights activist lose citizenship

Egyptian-British writer Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who faced years of imprisonment successful Egypt, ‘unequivocally’ apologises for the tweets.

Alaa Abd El-Fattah, an Egyptian-British quality rights campaigner, has “unequivocally” apologised aft right-wing leaders successful the United Kingdom dug up decade-old tweets to request helium beryllium stripped of British citizenship.

In a lengthy apology posted online, the writer and blogger – who returned to Britain this week aft 12 years of imprisonment successful Egypt – said the tweets were “shocking and hurtful”, but added that immoderate had been “completely twisted”.

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Conservative Party and far-right Reform UK leaders, on with right-wing commentators, took to sympathetic outlets and societal media to request that Abd El-Fattah beryllium stripped of citizenship for the posts dating backmost to 2010, which included alleged references to sidesplitting Zionists and constabulary officers.

The tweets were “expressions of a young man’s choler and frustrations successful a clip of determination crises”, including the wars connected Iraq and Gaza, and a pervasive civilization of “online insult battles”, Abd El-Fattah wrote.

Still, “I should person known better”, helium said.

“I americium shaken that, conscionable arsenic I americium being reunited with my household for the archetypal clip successful 12 years, respective historical tweets of excavation person been republished and utilized to question and onslaught my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship,” helium added.

Conservative person Kemi Badenoch wrote successful a Daily Mail op-ed that Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood should see however Abd El-Fattah “can beryllium removed from Britain” and added that she does “not privation radical who hatred Britain coming to our country”.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, posted a missive helium wrote to Mahmood connected X and took a swipe astatine Badenoch for being portion of the 2021 administration, past nether Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, that granted Abd El-Fattah citizenship.

Human rights activists and supporters of Abd El-Fattah dismissed the efforts arsenic a smear run and directed followers to his apology.

Jewish world and writer Naomi Klein wrote connected societal media that right-wingers were “playing authorities with his hard-won freedom”, portion Mai El-Sadany, enforcement manager of the Washington, DC-based Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, said the citizenship revocation run was “coordinated” to “impugn his estimation and harm him”.

British instrumentality allows the location caput to revoke citizenship if doing truthful is considered “conducive to the nationalist good”, a argumentation that critics accidental is disproportionately wielded against British Muslims.

In a 2022 report, the Institute connected Statelessness and Inclusion estimated that astatine slightest 175 radical had been stripped of British citizenship since 2006, including much than 100 successful 2017 – prompting the radical to deem the UK “a planetary person successful the contention to the bottom” for revocations.

Part of British conservatives’ ire appeared to stem from the absorption of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to Abd El-Fattah’s release. Earlier this week, helium said the lawsuit had been a “top priority” and added that helium was “delighted” by Abd El-Fattah’s return, a sentiment echoed by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.

Abd El-Fattah had been jailed during Egypt’s wide protests successful 2011 that ousted then-leader Hosni Mubarak. He went connected to go a apical professional of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who took powerfulness successful a military coup 2 years later.

The writer received a 15-year situation condemnation successful 2014 connected charges of spreading fake news. He was concisely released successful 2019 earlier receiving different five-year sentence.

He received a pardon successful September, on with 5 different prisoners, aft repeated planetary calls to merchandise him.