Sammy Wilson does U-turn on Egytian dissident

Pressure has been building on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to explain why he welcomed the return of a British democracy activist detained in Egypt in light of past social media posts showing extremist views.

The Prime Minister said on Friday that he was “delighted” that Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who was released from prison in September after receiving a presidential pardon, had been reunited with his loved ones in the UK.

Mr Abd El-Fattah, a British-Egyptian dual national, was detained in Egypt in 2019, and sentenced to five years in prison for spreading false news. He had been a leading voice in Egypt’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Today Downing Street defended El-Fattah’s entry into the UK, insisting the Government would welcome the return of any citizen “unfairly detained abroad”.

The activist previously wrote tweets which appeared to show him calling for violence against Zionists and the police.

Mr El-Fattah has apologised for the social media posts, saying he understood “how shocking and hurtful” his previous comments were.

Successive Tory prime ministers had also called for him to be released and reunited with his family, including Rishi Sunak who said it was “a priority” for his government in November 2022.

Several Tory politicians who lobbied for his release from prison have said they now regret their participation in the campaign, including former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith and Alicia Kearns, a former chair of the foreign affairs select committee.

UUP peer Lord Empey said that the fact that DUP MP Sammy Wilson signed a letter calling for his release – along with a number of Sinn Fein MPs, raises serious questions about his judgement.

The peer said that El-Fattah had posted statements on social media demonstrating hatred towards Jews and racist comments about white people as well as calls for police and Zionists to be killed.

Lord Empey added: “I think Sammy Wilson needs to explain why he joined Sinn Fein MPs in seeking this man’s release and arrival into the United Kingdom.”

Mr Wilson told the News Letter he had been asked to sign a letter of support for El-Fattah by his constituency MP in Scotland, Ben O'Hara.

"He explained that this constituent of his had been taking part in the protests in Egypt for greater democracy,” the DUP MP said.

“He had been captured and was being tortured in prison. One the face of it all it seemed just a human rights issue.

“But if the Prime Minister, with all of the apparatus of the state, and who should have known of this man's background, was not aware of the kind of things that he had been saying in the past, how would you expect the many back-benchers who supported him to know?

"My view is that we shouldn't have somebody like this as a citizen in the United Kingdom.”