Jeremy Corbyn says Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi 'threatens' UK national security

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn claims that Prime Minister David Cameron's invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to Downing Street "threatens" Britain's national security.

Sisi, who came to power after ousting democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi in a military coup in 2013, is expected to visit Number 10 on Thursday 5 November in his first official visit to the country.

In a statement released before Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, Corbyn said: "David Cameron's invitation to Britain today of the Egyptian president and coup leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi shows contempt for human and democratic rights and threatens, rather than protects, Britain's national security.

"Support for dialogue and negotiated conflict resolution in the Middle East is vital to us all. But to welcome and bolster with military support the coup leader who overthrew a democratically elected president in 2013 and has presided over the killing and jailing of many thousands since makes a mockery of government claims to be promoting peace and justice in the region."

Cameron is expected to talk to Sisi about security issues including terrorism, and the situation in war-torn Libya, but Corbyn said the UK's support for Sisi-fuelled extremism.

"Support for dictatorial regimes in the Middle East has been a key factor fuelling the spread of terrorism. Rather than rolling out the red carpet to President Sisi, the prime minister should suspend arms exports to Egypt until democratic and civil rights are restored," he said.

The statement comes with a range of groups planning a protest at Downing Street for Sisi's visit. Far-left group Stop the War, along with campaign group Stop Sisi and the Revolutionary Egyptian Council, which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood party ousted in the 2013 coup are among the 10 organisations expected to take part.

In a petition published in the Guardian last week signed by Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell as well as a number of left-wing and Islamist organisations, signatories called for Cameron to cancel the visit by Sisi over his government's human rights record.