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

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”.

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.