Egyptian political activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah has issued a public apology for historic social media comments in which he appeared to call for the killing of Zionists and white people, acknowledging that the remarks were offensive and deeply hurtful.
El-Fattah, who arrived in the United Kingdom last week after spending 12 years in prison in Egypt, found himself at the centre of controversy shortly after senior British officials publicly welcomed his release. On Friday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and several cabinet ministers expressed their delight on social media, saying they were pleased that El-Fattah had been reunited with his family after more than a decade behind bars.
However, attention quickly shifted to a series of old tweets that resurfaced online. Among them were comments in which El-Fattah appeared to describe the killing of “colonialists and especially Zionists” as “heroic”. The posts sparked a fierce backlash, with some critics calling for his British citizenship to be revoked.
In a public statement issued on Monday, El-Fattah said he was “shaken” by the timing of the renewed scrutiny, noting that it came just as he was being reunited with his family for the first time in 12 years.
“I am shocked that historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values,” he said, adding that the situation had escalated into calls for the removal of his citizenship.
El-Fattah acknowledged that, viewed today, some of his past comments were indefensible. “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,” he said.
He explained that the posts were written during his youth and reflected intense anger and frustration during a period marked by regional turmoil, including wars in Iraq, Lebanon, and Gaza, as well as growing police brutality against young people in Egypt.
At the time, El-Fattah said he was deeply immersed in what he described as “antagonistic online cultures”, which shaped both his language and tone. He insisted, however, that he was never advocating real-world violence and was instead actively involved in non-violent, pro-democracy activism.
El-Fattah also rejected allegations that his past statements included homophobic views or Holocaust denial. He said he had paid “a steep price” for publicly supporting LGBTQ rights in Egypt and maintained that such accusations misrepresented his long-standing human rights advocacy.
“I take accusations of antisemitism very seriously,” he added, stressing that his political activism was rooted in opposition to oppression rather than hatred of any group.
The controversy has reignited debate around historical online speech, political activism, and accountability, particularly when individuals emerge from long periods of imprisonment into the public spotlight. For El-Fattah, the episode has complicated what was expected to be a moment of relief and reunion after more than a decade of incarceration.
