Labour has launched an urgent investigation into what it called “serious failures” relating to Alaa Abd El-Fattah.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said she had asked a senior Foreign Office official to urgently review the “serious information failures” in the case of Alaa Abd El-Fattah.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “As Yvette Cooper sets out in her letter, the historic tweets by Alaa Abd El-Fattah are absolutely abhorrent.
“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 continued: “We are taking steps to review the information failures in this case.”
In a letter to Dame Emily Thornberry, chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ms Cooper said: “Based on the work I instigated in the Foreign Office over the weekend, it is apparent not only that current and former Prime Ministers were never briefed on these tweets when they spoke publicly about this case in the past, but also that the civil servants in charge of this case were also unaware.”
She added: “It is clear that this has been an unacceptable failure and that long-standing procedures and due diligence arrangements have been completely inadequate for this situation.
“[This has lead] to the serious problem of successive Foreign Secretaries and Prime Ministers making public statements without all relevant information.”
Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has issued an apology for his social media posts
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GETTYThe Foreign Secretary continued: “In the context of rising antisemitism, and recent horrific attacks against Jewish people in this country and around the world, I am deeply concerned that the unexpected emergence of these historical tweets, coming alongside the social media posts that I and other senior politicians sent on Boxing Day welcoming the conclusion of this long-running case and Mr El Fattah’s reunion with his family, have added to the distress felt by Jewish communities in the UK, and I very much regret that.”
Mr Abd El–Fattah was imprisoned on charges of spreading false news, in a process branded a breach of international law by UN investigators.
He was pardoned by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in September following years of lobbying by Conservative and Labour governments, and flew to the UK on Boxing Day.
Since then, the Twitter posts dating back to 2010 have surfaced.
Alaa Abdel Fattah returned to the UK on Boxing Day after being pardoned by Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi | GETTY
In his statement, Abd El–Fattah said: “I unequivocally apologise.
“(The posts) were mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises (the wars on Iraq, on Lebanon and Gaza), and the rise of police brutality against Egyptian youth.
“I particularly regret some that were written as part of online insult battles with the total disregard for how they read to other people.
“I should have known better.”
