strip ‘extremist’ of British citizenship

 

Welcome to From the Editor. Sir Keir Starmer welcomed an alleged Islamist extremist, who labelled British people “dogs and monkeys” and called for Zionists to be killed, into the UK. The Prime Minister would have been hoping for a quiet end to 2025, but this latest own-goal makes it likely he will be seeing in the New Year dealing with another controversy.

Starmer under pressure to strip ‘extremist’ of British citizenship Alaa Abd el-Fattah Nick Gutteridge Chief Political Correspondent   Just why did Sir Keir Starmer fall over himself to welcome Alaa Abd el-Fattah, an Egyptian activist with a history of “abhorrent” social media posts, to Britain? It is the question on the lips of shellshocked Labour MPs who have watched aghast as the quiet Christmas recess has descended into another comms catastrophe. The Prime Minister said he was “delighted” that Fattah had arrived from Egypt on Friday evening after a travel ban imposed by Cairo was lifted following lobbying by ministers. Fattah, an activist with dual British-Egyptian citizenship, allegedly said that it was heroic to kill Zionists “including civilians”. In posts on X, he also allegedly urged Londoners to burn Downing Street, told his supporters to kill police and said he hated white people. Social media posts allegedly written by Fattah between 2010 and 2012 circulated online after his arrival in the UK Ministers are facing calls to revoke his British citizenship, which he was granted in 2021 while imprisoned in Egypt, where campaigners described him as a “prisoner of conscience”. In a statement released this morning, Fattah said: “I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship. “Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.” Opposition politicians were quick to leap on the situation, saying it showed an extraordinary lack of due diligence on the part of Downing Street. However, could it be that the real culprit behind Sir Keir’s latest woe is actually his beloved ECHR? Questions are now being raised over whether Fattah would have been denied citizenship had he not benefited from a loophole carved out by human rights law. Had that been the case, the Prime Minister would not now be mired in yet another needless controversy that will fuel further discontent in the Labour ranks. Read the full story here ➤ Egyptian ‘extremist’ claims his words were twisted ➤ How a murderer’s ECHR victory helped ‘extremist’ win British citizenship ➤