Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has issued a grovelling apology for his social media posts after they became the centre of a major political firestorm.
Mr Abd El-Fattah was flown to the UK from Egypt on Boxing Day – with a string of ministers issuing crowing statements welcoming him to Britain.
But a series of posts condemned as “abhorrent” by Nigel Farage then came to light.
In a dead-of-night statement, the activist admitted he “should have known better” but claimed he had been left “shaken” by the public outcry over his own words.
“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,” he said.
“Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.
“They 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.”
His posts included comments appearing to call for the killing of Zionists, referring to British people as “dogs and monkeys”, and suggesting that police should be killed.
Mr Abd el-Fattah has also been accused of expressing support for suicide bombings.
He had been detained in Egypt in September 2019, and in December 2021 was sentenced to five years in prison on charges of spreading false news.
While behind bars, reams of activists, politicians and celebrities had campaigned to move him to the UK.
The Prime Minister described bringing him to the UK as a “top priority”.
On December 26, he was reunited with his son, who lives in Brighton, after a travel ban was lifted.
But Reform UK boss Mr Farage had led a late-December outcry against his “abhorrent posts” which he said “show Mr el-Fattah to hold views which are completely opposed to our British way of life”.
He wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, urging her to revoke the British citizenship.
Mr Abd el-Fattah became a British citizen through his mother, who was born in the UK, under a legal route that grants automatic citizenship by descent.
In full, the activist’s apology reads: “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.
“Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.
“They 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. “Looking back I see the writings of a much younger person, deeply enmeshed in antagonistic online cultures, utilising flippant, shocking and sarcastic tones in the nascent, febrile world of social media.
“But this young man never intended to offend a wider public and was, in the real world, engaged in the non-violent pro-democracy movement and repeatedly incarcerated for calling for full equality, human rights and democracy for all.
“Today, this middle aged father firmly believes all our fates are entwined and we can only achieve prosperous and safe lives for our children together. All the initiatives I’ve led reflect this.
“I must also stress that some tweets have been completely misunderstood, seemingly in bad faith.
“For example, a tweet being shared to allege homophobia on my part was actually ridiculing homophobia. I have paid a steep price for my public support for LGBTQ rights in Egypt and the world.
“Another tweet has been wrongly interpreted to suggest Holocaust denial – but in fact the exchange shows that I was clearly mocking Holocaust denial.
“I take accusations of antisemitism very seriously. I have always believed that sectarianism and racism are the most sinister and dangerous of forces, and I did my part and paid the price for standing up for the rights of religious minorities in Egypt. I faced a military tribunal and imprisonment for defending Christians in Egypt falsely accused of violence.
“This weekend was supposed to be the first time I celebrated my son’s birthday with him since 2012, when he was one year old.
“I have been imprisoned in Egypt for almost his entire life for my consistent promotion of equality, justice and secular democracy.
“That included publicly rejecting anti-Jewish speech in Egypt, often at risk to myself, defence of LGBTQ rights, defence of Egyptian Christians, and campaigning against police torture and brutality – all at great risk. And, indeed, my freedom was stripped from me for these defences of human rights. These values are core to my identity.
“It has been painful to see some people who supported calls for my release now feel regret for doing so. Whatever they feel now, they did the right thing.
“Standing up for human rights and a citizen unjustly imprisoned is something honourable, and I will always be grateful for that solidarity. I have received huge empathy and solidarity from people across the UK, enough to win me my freedom, and I will be forever grateful for this.”