British-Egyptian human rights campaigner Alaa Abd el-Fattah has issued an unreserved apology for tweets he wrote more than a decade ago, which he acknowledged were 'shocking and hurtful'. The apology comes after criticism from shadow ministers and calls for his British citizenship to be revoked.
In a statement released in the early hours of Monday, Abd el-Fattah said the tweets were mostly expressions of anger during regional crises and the rise of police brutality against Egyptian youth. He expressed regret for some written as part of online insult battles, saying he should have known better.
The tweets included references to killing Zionists as heroic and describing British people as dogs and monkeys. Abd el-Fattah said some tweets had been deliberately misconstrued, including one that was wrongly interpreted as Holocaust denial when he was actually mocking it.
He also challenged accusations of antisemitism, stating he has always opposed sectarianism and racism, and paid a price for defending religious minorities in Egypt. He asked to be judged by his real-life record of standing up for minorities, gay people, and freedom of speech.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has demanded his deportation, saying she does not want people who hate Britain coming to the country. Nigel Farage said he reported Abd el-Fattah to counterterrorism police. Abd el-Fattah was granted British citizenship in 2021 under a law allowing mothers to transmit citizenship to children born abroad.
