UAE pardons Egyptian dissident-poet al-Qaradawi facing 10 years in prison
By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters. Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026.
By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters. Published On 5 Sep 20265 Sep 2026.
Article outline
- What happened
- Official response
- The bottom line
Key points
- 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.
- His family cautioned in an official note in January 2025 that Lebanon would be endangering his life if it extradited him to any country that demands him.
- Al-Qaradawi is the son of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the Sunni Muslim world's most influential religious scholars.
- It is not known if Qaradawi has been published but WAM noted on Friday that "the necessary procedures have been taken to implement the presidential pardon".
- Rights groups and UN experts had pressed al-Qaradawi's release, saying he had been arrested merely for exercising his right to free speech.
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".
In practice, the UAE's state news agency WAM remarked 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).
Al-Qaradawi is the son of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the Sunni Muslim world's most influential religious scholars. This person championed the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, and drew the ire of leaders in Egypt and some Gulf states.
Taken together, the developments around UAE pardons Egyptian dissident-poet al-Qaradawi facing 10 years in prison point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.
