Overview
- Alaa Abd el-Fattah reached Britain on Dec. 26 after Egypt lifted a travel ban on Dec. 20, months after a presidential pardon in September ended his detention.
- Prime Minister Keir Starmer and senior ministers publicly welcomed his return and thanked President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for the pardon.
- Conservative shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick and the Jewish Leadership Council criticised the government’s celebratory tone, citing decade-old posts attributed to Abd el-Fattah that reportedly endorsed violence against Zionists and police.
- The activist’s family confirmed his arrival and said he will reunite with his teenage son in Brighton, while noting years of advocacy including his mother Laila Soueif’s prolonged hunger strike.
- Abd el-Fattah, a prominent figure of Egypt’s 2011 uprising who obtained British citizenship in 2021 through his mother, had long faced restricted consular access as Egyptian authorities disputed his dual nationality.