Labour Refuses to Deport Egyptian ‘Extremist’

Labour says it cannot deport Alaa Abd el-Fattah, an Egyptian activist who gained UK citizenship through his British-born mother, despite historic antisemitism and calls for violence. The Telegraph explains.

Sir Keir Starmer is facing calls to deport Alaa Abd el-Fattah over social media posts in which he called for Zionists to be killed and described British people as “dogs and monkeys”.

Mr Fattah was granted British citizenship in 2021 by the Conservative Government without any “good character” checks.

However, both the Tory and Reform UK leaders are now calling for Shabana Mahmood, the Home Secretary, to initiate the process to strip him of his citizenship after his tweets emerged.

She alone holds the power to revoke citizenship, but must prove a legal basis for doing so.

But it is understood that Downing Street is unlikely to act because officials believe the comments do not meet the high legal bar for revoking nationality because Mr Fattah does not pose a significant threat to national security.

Downing Street is also understood to be fearful that an attempt to remove the Egyptian activist’s UK nationality could be struck down by the courts.

Government sources have argued there is a very high legal bar for depriving someone of citizenship, which Mr Fattah is unlikely to meet despite his historic tweets.

Sir Keir’s spokesman said on Monday that while the Prime Minister condemned Mr Fattah’s tweets, he stood by his controversial decision to welcome him to the UK.

“Of course we welcome the return of a British citizen unfairly detained abroad,” he said. …

Dame Emily Thornberry, the senior Labour MP who chairs the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, suggested that Mr Fattah “sending a tweet 15 years ago” was not evidence enough for him to be legally classified as “a threat to national security”.

Dame Emily said it would be impossible to remove Mr Fattah’s citizenship in response to calls by Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, for ministers to act.

“You can only take it if they are a threat to national security,” she told the BBC.

“I really don’t think that Chris Philp is going to be able to tell us of an example of sending a tweet 15 years ago and that being a threat to national security.”

Typically, nationality can only be removed from people who either obtain citizenship by fraud or who are considered to be the most dangerous individuals in society, such as terrorists, extremists and those involved in serious organised crime.

Mr Fattah would have the right to appeal any suspension of his citizenship, which the Home Office would have to defend in the courts at a significant cost to the taxpayer.

The Egyptian activist’s case would also be boosted by the fact that he has a child in the UK, which would make it much harder to remove his nationality.

Guidance issued to officials dealing with such cases states that the “consideration of a child’s best interests is a primary” factor they must take into account.

Mr Fattah secured UK nationality through his mother, who was born in Britain, which meant he did not have to go through the usual “good character” checks.

He was released from an Egyptian jail after serving a five-year sentence for spreading “fake news” in September but was banned from travelling to the UK by Cairo, which refused to recognise his British nationality.

Labour ministers then lobbied Cairo to drop the travel ban, which it eventually did, and Mr Fattah arrived in the country just before Christmas. …

Anger erupted after the social media posts from 2010 to 2012 made on what was then Twitter, now X, emerged. 

As well as calling for the killing of Zionists and labelling Britons “dogs and monkeys”, he urged Londoners to burn Downing Street, told his supporters to kill police and said that he hated white people.

Worth reading in full.