Nigel Farage has been accused of “galactic levels of hypocrisy” after he called on the government to deport British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.
The government is facing calls from both the Tories and Reform to deport Fattah after old tweets from him emerged.
In the social media posts dating back to 2010, the British-Egyptian dual national called for violence towards “Zionists” and the police.
Abdul Fattah has since apologised for the posts, which emerged just days after he arrived in the UK following years of imprisonment in Egypt.
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On Sunday evening, Nigel Farage wrote to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood urging her to rescind Abdel Fattah’s citizenship and have him deported.
But he has been accused of rank hypocrisy by some over his stance, who have pointed out that it was only a few months ago that the Reform leader voiced his support for Lucy Connolly.
Connolly was released from HMP Peterborough after serving 40% of her 31-month prison sentence for inciting racial violence with a post on social media.
She then appeared at Reform’s conference, with the likes of Farage claiming her sentence was an example of “two-tier Britain.”
Responding to Farage’s letter on X, one person wrote: “I genuinely cannot get past the galactic levels of hypocrisy here. Farage wanted to take Lucy Connolly — a person convicted of inciting racial hatred via social media — to the US, to push his, so called, free speech agenda.
“He put her on a literal stage to discuss the imaginary two tier justice system they created. And now … he wants the citizenship removed of a man for some very old tweets [for which he has apologised, unequivocally].”
They accused Farage of “unadulterated racism” for “actively promoting the white lady racist, and demanding deportation of the brown British man.”
Fatteh had been sentenced to five years behind bars in December 2021 having been accused of spreading fake news, an imprisonment the UN had branded a breach of international law.
During their time in power, the Conservatives had campaigned for Fattah’s release and granted him British citizenship through his London-born mother.
On Monday morning, the democracy activist apologised for the tweets.
He said in a statement: “I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise.”
He continued: “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.”