"Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who arrived in London on Boxing Day after the British government successfully negotiated his release, said he apologised unequivocally for his posts after opposition parties called for him to be deported and his citizenship revoked. Successive governments led by the Conservatives and Labour have advocated for Abd el-Fattah's release over the past 10 years, almost all of which he has spent in prison in Egypt for his political beliefs, including his opposition to the treatment of dissidents."
"The prime minister's spokesperson defended the handling of the case, 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. It doesn't change the fact that we have condemned the nature of these historic tweets and we consider them to be abhorrent."
"In one resurfaced tweet from 2010, Abd el-Fattah said he considered killing any colonialists and specially Zionists heroic, we need to kill more of them. In 2012 he posted: I am a racist, I don't like white people. He is also accused of saying police did not have rights and we should kill them all, and referring to the British as dogs and monkeys."
Downing Street defended its campaign to secure the release and return of British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah. Abd el-Fattah arrived in London after the British government negotiated his release and apologised unequivocally for decade-old offensive posts. Successive Conservative and Labour administrations had advocated for his release during nearly 10 years when he was mostly imprisoned in Egypt for political beliefs. Resurfaced historic tweets calling for violence and expressing racist views prompted calls for deportation and citizenship revocation and raised questions about what vetting occurred before his return to the UK.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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