A British-Egyptian activist has apologised "unequivocally" for "shocking and hurtful" past social media posts in which he appears to call for violence against "Zionists" - but said some had been "completely twisted".

The historic tweets by Alaa Abd El-Fattah emerged after he returned to the UK on Boxing Day following several years of imprisonment in Egypt.

"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 in a statement on Monday.

"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."

Image: Alaa Abd El-Fattah was pardoned in September 2025. Pic: AP

Mr Abd El-Fattah was a leading voice in Egypt's 2011 Arab Spring uprising and went on hunger strikes behind bars.

He was most recently detained in September 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison in December 2021, on charges of spreading false news.

UN investigators branded his imprisonment a breach of international law, and both Conservative and Labour governments lobbied for his release.

Egyptian president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi pardoned the activist earlier this year and he flew to the UK to reunite with his young son, who lives in Brighton, last week.

He had been granted UK citizenship in December 2021 under Boris Johnson, reportedly through his UK-born mother.

Image: Mr Abd El-Fattah with his sister after his release from prison. Pic: Twitter/@monasosh

'I take allegations of antisemitism very seriously'

After the historic social media posts came to light, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for the home secretary to look into whether the activist can be stripped of his UK citizenship and deported.