Calls are growing for the release of imprisoned poet al-Qaradawi after his arrest in Lebanon | Human rights news
Egyptian activist Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi has been detained on an Egyptian arrest warrant, a Lebanese official said.
A group of lawyers and activists called for the immediate release of Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian opposition activist wanted by Cairo who was detained by Lebanese authorities as he arrived at the Masnaa border crossing from Syria.
Al-Qaradawi, also a poet and son the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhoodwas arrested over the weekend on an Egyptian arrest warrant, a Lebanese judicial official said.
The warrant was “based on a ruling by the Egyptian judiciary” that sentenced al-Qaradawi in absentia to five years in prison on charges of “opposing the state and inciting terrorism,” the official said.
Al-Qaradawi’s lawyer, Mohammed Sablouh, urged Lebanese authorities on Sunday to allow his client to speak with his family.
“[We want to] determine that this person is [al-Qaradawi] he can be tortured in his own country [Egypt]in an attempt to prevent his surrender and return,” he said.
Sablouh added that al-Qaradawi has Turkish citizenship, and requested that he be allowed to travel to Turkey.
Al-Qaradawi’s father was the prominent Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in Egypt.
The late scholar was jailed several times in Egypt for his ties to the Muslim Brotherhood before he died in 2022 while in exile.
Lebanese authorities “will ask Egyptian authorities” to forward Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi’s file for questioning, a judicial official said, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The judiciary will make a recommendation on whether “the conditions for his extradition are met” and the matter will be referred to the Lebanese government, which must make the final decision, the official added.
The campaign launched by the activists aims to put pressure on the Lebanese authorities and call on them to respect international laws related to the protection of political dissidents and to prevent their extradition to countries that could pose a threat to their lives.
Al-Qaradawi, 53, was a political organizer against the regime of longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in 2011 in the Arab Spring uprising.
He later became a vocal opponent of current Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who ousted elected President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Human rights groups say Egyptian authorities have detained tens of thousands of people as political prisoners.
