Foreign secretary orders review of 'serious failures' in case of British-Egyptian activist
Yvette Cooper has ordered an urgent Foreign Office review of "serious information failures" in the case of a freed British-Egyptian activist.
Yvette Cooper has ordered an urgent Foreign Office review of "serious information failures" in the case of a freed British-Egyptian activist.
"Abhorrent" social media posts by Alaa Abd El-Fattah emerged after he returned to the UK on Boxing Day following several years of imprisonment in Egypt.
Ms Cooper, the foreign secretary, said successive prime ministers were not briefed on the historic tweets, which date back as far as 2010, and civil servants in charge of the case were also "unaware" of them.
The activist has since apologised "unequivocally" for his "shocking and hurtful" social media posts, in which he appears to call for violence against "Zionists" - but said some had been "completely twisted".
Both the Conservatives and Reform UK have suggested he should have his British citizenship stripped for the posts - though it is understood there are no current plans for this, and the law does not appear to provide grounds to deport him.
In a letter to the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Dame Emily Thornberry, Ms Cooper said long-standing procedures and due diligence arrangements had been "completely inadequate" in the case.
"In the context of rising antisemitism, and recent horrific attacks against Jewish people in this country and around the world, I am deeply concerned that the unexpected emergence of these historical tweets - coming alongside the social media posts that I and other senior politicians sent on Boxing Day welcoming the conclusion of this long-running case and Mr El Fattah's reunion with his family - have added to the distress felt by Jewish communities in the UK, and I very much regret that," she wrote.
"I have asked the permanent under secretary as a matter of urgency to review the serious information failures in this case and more broadly the systems that are in place within the department for conducting due diligence on the individual high-profile consular and human-rights cases for which the FCDO is responsible, to ensure that those systems are functioning properly for the future, and that all necessary lessons are learned."
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