Foreign secretary orders review of 'serious failures' in case of British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah

Yvette Cooper has ordered an urgent Foreign Office review of "serious information failures" in the case of a freed British-Egyptian activist.

"Abhorrent" social media posts by Alaa Abd El-Fattah emerged after he returned to the UK on Boxing Day following several years of imprisonment in Egypt.

Ms Cooper, the foreign secretary, said successive prime ministers were not briefed on the historic tweets, which date back as far as 2010, and civil servants in charge of the case were also "unaware" of them.

The activist has since apologised "unequivocally" for his "shocking and hurtful" social media posts, in which he appears to call for violence against "Zionists" - but said some had been "completely twisted".

Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have suggested he should have his British citizenship stripped for the posts - though it is understood there are no current plans for this, and the law does not appear to provide grounds to deport him.

In a letter to the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, Ms Cooper said long-standing procedures and due diligence arrangements had been "completely inadequate" in the case.

"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," she wrote.

"I have asked the permanent under secretary as a matter of urgency to review the serious information failures in this case and more broadly the systems that are in place within the department for conducting due diligence on the individual high-profile consular and human-rights cases for which the FCDO is responsible, to ensure that those systems are functioning properly for the future, and that all necessary lessons are learned."

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Mr Abd El-Fattah was a leading voice during Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring uprising and went on hunger strikes in prison.

He was most recently detained in September 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison in December 2021 on charges of spreading false news.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi pardoned the activist earlier this year and he flew to the UK to reunite with his young son, who lives in Brighton, last week.

He had been granted UK citizenship in December 2021 under Boris Johnson, reportedly through his UK-born mother.

No 10 has defended the government's handling of the case, with the prime minister's official spokesperson saying: "We welcome the return of a British citizen unfairly detained abroad, as we would in all cases and as we have done in the past.

"That is central to Britain's commitment to religious and political freedom. That said, it doesn't change the fact that we have condemned the nature of these historic tweets and we consider them to be abhorrent, and we've been very clear about that."

In a statement, Mr 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."

(c) Sky News 2025: Foreign secretary orders review of 'serious failures' in case of British-Egyptian