Reform UK’s Head of Policy Zia Yusuf has castigated Members of Parliament who supported bringing an “extremist” Egyptian prisoner to Britain.
On Saturday, a row erupted after Sir Keir Starmer and other senior cabinet members sent warm welcome messages to Alaa Abd El-Fattah as incendiary past comments emerged on social media.
Nigel Farage’s party was quick to lambast the Labour Government, the previous Conservative admnistration and other lawmakers who called for his release from a prison in Egypt as members of a ”uniparty” who are hostile to Britain.
“Last year, 107 MPs and Peers wrote to David Lammy (the then-Foreign Secretary) urging him to secure the return of Alaa el-Fattah… a man who had publicly espoused his hatred of British people, white people and Jews,” Mr Yusuf wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“They included: six Tories, five Greens, 35 Labour, 34 Lib Dems, seven SNP …and ZERO Reform of course.
“The Alaa el-Fattah saga sums up the uniparty: prioritising those who hate Britain. Voting for the Tories again will only result in more of the same. Britain needs Reform.”
Continuing his broadside, Mr Yusuf penned: “The fact that Labour and Tory ministers boasted breathlessly about how Alaa Abd el-Fattah was their ‘top priority” is perfect symbolism.
“He represents perfectly the uniparty’s hatred of the British people.”
Zia Yusuf has condemned MPs who supported Alaa Abd El-Fattah as ‘Prioritising those who hate Britain!’
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His dressing down of the British establishment was echoed by Mr Farage, who took aim at the Tories who had previously backed Mr Abd El-Fattah’s freedom.
Mr Farage quote-tweeted a post from November 2022 by then-Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who said he was working “tirelessly” to see the activist and blogger freed from jail.
“Tory and Labour both open our doors to the wrong people. They are as bad as each other,” Mr Farage said in response.
Reform UK’s official account also launched its own attack, sharing some of Mr Abd El-Fattah’s most offensive alleged posts.
Keir Starmer had said he was ‘delighted’ over release the release of the Egyptian-British prisoner who called for the mass murder of Israelis
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“Labour and the Tories have failed Britain,” the party wrote.
In a myriad of social media posts between 2010 and 2012 now circulating online, Mr Abd el-Fattah’s allegedly described British people as “dogs and monkeys” and proclaimed that it was heroic to kill Zionists, “including civilians”.
In other historic posts shared by critics following his return, he appeared to urge Londoners to burn Downing Street, kill police officers and said that he hated white people.
Amid the storm, Tory grandee Iain Duncan Smith took to X to announce he “regretted” signing the letter calling for Mr Abd El-Fattah’s release in light of his “utterly abhorrent” views.
“Had I known of these I would not have signed the letter. I urge the police to investigate the nature of these extremist comments,” the former Conservative leader said, adding he strongly supported the release of other British political prisoners.
As pressure reached fever pitch, Downing Street issued an updated statement condemning Mr Abd El-Fattah’s comments.
“Mr El-Fattah is a British citizen,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
“It has been a long-standing priority under successive governments to work for his release from detention, and to see him reunited with his family in the UK.
“The Government condemns Mr El-Fattah’s historic tweets and considers them to be abhorrent.”
The Prime Minister previously said: “I’m delighted that Alaa Abd El-Fattah is back in the UK and has been reunited with his loved ones, who must be feeling profound relief… Alaa’s case has been a top priority for my government since we came to office.”
Sources have indicated neither Labour’s top brass nor the CCHQ were aware of Mr Abd el-Fattah when they campaigned for his release and welcomed him to the UK.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick was first out of the gate, slamming Labour for a “serious error of judgment” for their welcoming of Mr Abd El-Fattah.
Speaking on GB News, Mr Jenrick said he was “absolutely livid” after learning that Mr Abd el-Fattah, who holds dual British-Egyptian citizenship, had arrived in the UK following the lifting of a travel ban by Egyptian authorities.
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has raised the prospect of revoking Mr Abd el-Fattah’s British citizenship
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Mr Jenrick also criticised the role of officials, accusing the Foreign Office of acting “against the interests of the British people” by spending significant resources to secure Mr Abd el-Fattah’s return.
“Your viewers will think they are mugs,” he said, arguing that diplomats had prioritised the case over “genuine British interests,” he told the People’s Channel.
He also raised the prospect of revoking Mr Abd el-Fattah’s citizenship and deporting him “to live in Egypt or frankly anywhere else in the world”.
Earlier this year, Mr Abd El-Fattah was pardoned by Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s government after spending most of the past 12 years in jail on charges of spreading “fake news”.
He became a prominent pro-democracy campaigner and blogger during the Egyptian Uprising of 2011 leading to the ousting of former president Hosni Mubarak.
Mr Abd El-Fattah has British citizenship through his mother Laila Soueif, a London-born mathematics professor, who previously went on hunger strike over his case and met Sir Keir to lobby for her son’s freedom.
Mr Abd El-Fattah’s representatives has been approached for comment, but have yet to respond.
