UAE pardons Egyptian dissident-poet al-Qaradawi facing 10 years in prison

Egyptian activist Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi was held due to an arrest warrant by the Arab Interior Ministers Council.

Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian opposition activist wanted by Cairo and son of the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested in Lebanon in December 2024 and then extradited to the UAE. [File: Ozan Kose/AFP]

Egyptian opposition activist and poet Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi has been pardoned ⁠by United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (MBZ), according to state media.

Al-Qaradawi was arrested in Lebanon in December 2024 and extradited to the UAE in January 2025, facing charges of “engaging in activities ‌that ⁠aim to stir and undermine public security”.

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list 4 of 4 Lebanon approves extradition of Egyptian activist al-Qaradawi to UAE

The UAE’s state news agency WAM said on Friday that the country’s president issued a pardon for al-Qaradawi, days after he was sentenced by the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal’s Cybercrime Division on August 27 to 10 years in prison and fined him 200,000 dirhams ($55,000).

It is not known if Qaradawi has been released but WAM reported on Friday that “the necessary procedures have been taken to implement the presidential pardon”.

Al-Qaradawi is the son of Yusuf al-Qaradawi , one of the Sunni Muslim world’s most influential religious scholars, who championed the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, and drew the ire of leaders in Egypt and some Gulf states.

His family warned in a statement in January 2025 that Lebanon would be endangering his life if it extradited him to any country that demands him.

Rights groups and ⁠UN experts had called for al-Qaradawi’s release, saying he ⁠had been arrested merely for ⁠exercising his right to free speech.

埃及活动人士阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼·卡拉达维因阿拉伯内政部长委员会的逮捕令而被拘留。

埃及反对派活动人士阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼·卡拉达维（Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi）是开罗方面通缉的嫌犯，也是已故穆斯林兄弟会精神领袖之子。他于2024年12月在黎巴嫩被捕，随后被引渡至阿联酋。[图片：Ozan Kose/AFP]

据国家媒体报道，埃及反对派活动家兼诗人阿卜杜勒·拉赫曼·卡拉达维已获得阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋）总统谢赫·穆罕默德·本·扎耶德·阿勒纳哈扬（MBZ）的赦免。

2024 年 12 月，卡拉达维在黎巴嫩被捕，并于 2025 年 1 月被引渡到阿联酋，面临“从事旨在煽动和破坏公共安全的活动”的指控。

列表 1/4：优素福·卡拉达维，这位影响了数百万人的穆斯林学者

埃及活动家卡拉达维的家人呼吁黎巴嫩总理释放他，这是其中的第二个呼吁（共四个）。

黎巴嫩逮捕诗人卡拉达维后，要求释放他的呼声日益高涨（共4条记录，此为第3条）

黎巴嫩批准将埃及活动人士卡拉达维引渡至阿联酋（共4项）

阿联酋国家通讯社WAM周五报道称，该国总统赦免了卡拉达维。此前几天，阿布扎比联邦上诉法院网络犯罪部门于8月27日判处卡拉达维10年监禁，并处罚金20万迪拉姆（5.5万美元）。

目前尚不清楚卡拉达维是否已被释放，但阿联酋通讯社（WAM）周五报道称，“已采取必要程序落实总统特赦”。

卡拉达维是优素福·卡拉达维的儿子，优素福·卡拉达维是逊尼派穆斯林世界最有影响力的宗教学者之一，他曾大力支持 2011 年阿拉伯之春起义，并因此激怒了埃及和一些海湾国家的领导人。

他的家人在 2025 年 1 月的一份声明中警告说，如果黎巴嫩将他引渡到任何要求引渡他的国家，将会危及他的生命。

人权组织和联合国专家呼吁释放卡拉达维，称他“仅仅因为行使言论自由权而被捕”。