United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has pardoned Egyptian opposition activist and poet Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, the UAE's state news agency WAM reported Friday. The pardon came days after a court in Abu Dhabi sentenced al-Qaradawi to 10 years in prison and fined him 200,000 dirhams ($55,000). WAM said "the necessary procedures have been taken to implement the presidential pardon" but did not confirm whether he had been released.
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". He was convicted by the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal's Cybercrime Division on August 27.
Al-Qaradawi is the son of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent Sunni Islamic scholar who supported the Arab Spring uprisings and has drawn opposition from leaders in Egypt and some Gulf states. His family said in a January 2025 statement that Lebanon would be endangering his life by extraditing him to any country demanding him.
Human rights groups and United Nations experts had called for his release, arguing he was detained only for exercising freedom of speech.
