Egyptian-Turkish poet Abdulrahman Youssef al-Qaradawi was pardoned by United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday, state news agency WAM said, a week after receiving a 10-year jail sentence following his extradition from Lebanon.
Abdulrahman Youssef al-Qaradawi © JRE
Egyptian-Turkish poet Abdulrahman Youssef al-Qaradawi was pardoned by United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on 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 UN 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.
Editing by Timothy Heritage
Chinese President Xi Jinping called on Middle Eastern nations to oppose external interference and consider reshaping the region's security order during a visit to Egypt on Wednesday, as Beijing seeks to expand its influence amid the U.S. war against Iran.
A bus crash in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula killed 22 people and injured 28 on Wednesday, according to an updated toll from the health ministry, in a country plagued by aging infrastructure and frequent road deaths.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Egypt Tuesday evening on his first visit in a decade, as the war in the Middle East and US sanctions increasingly threaten Beijing's economic interests.
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