Egyptian-Turkish poet Abdulrahman Youssef al-Qaradawi was pardoned by United Arab Emirates (UAE) President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan this Friday, state news agency WAM said, a week after receiving a 10-year jail sentence following his extradition from Lebanon.
Qaradawi, the son of late senior Muslim cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi, was arrested in Lebanon in December 2024 after making critical comments about the UAE, Saudi Arabian and Egyptian authorities in a video posted online.
He was extradited in January 2025, facing charges of “engaging in activities that aim to stir and undermine public security”, WAM said at the time.
Rights groups and United Nations experts had called for Qaradawi’s release, saying he had been arrested after exercising his right to free expression.
His father, who died in 2022, was a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood, championed the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, and drew the ire of rulers in Egypt and the Gulf with his Islamist preaching.
–Reuters–
