Government to review 'information failures' in British-Egyptian activist case

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper has launched a review into what she calls "serious information failures" in the case of British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah.

In a letter to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Cooper said she, Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy "were all unaware" of Mr Abd El Fattah's historical tweets, which they consider to be "abhorrent".

It comes after the Conservatives and Reform UK called for the activist to be stripped of UK citizenship and deported after social media posts in which he called for Zionists and police to be killed resurfaced.

Mr Abd El Fattah has apologised, saying he understood "how shocking and hurtful" the posts were.

Sir Keir Starmer has been criticised for saying he was "delighted" by Mr Abd El Fattah's arrival in the UK on Friday, three months after the democracy activist was freed from prison in Egypt.

On Monday, Sir Keir said the resurfaced tweets were "absolutely abhorrent" and said the government was "taking steps to review the information failures in this case".

"With the rise of antisemitism, and recent horrific attacks, I know this has added to the distress of many in the Jewish community in the UK," he added.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Abd El Fattah said he took allegations of antisemitism "very seriously" while arguing some of the posts had been "completely twisted out of their meaning".

He added: "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."

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