After prolonged detention: son of Muslim Brotherhood leader receives pardon
Activist Abd al-Rahman al-Qaradawi was extradited to the UAE after attacking the country on social media. After about a year and eight months and a conviction for incitement, he is expected to be released.
A surprising pardon: UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan decided today, Friday, to pardon the Islamist activist Abd al-Rahman Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Abd al-Rahman is a poet, an Egyptian internet activist, and the son of the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. His father, who died in 2022, was also the ideological mastermind behind the terrorist organization Hamas and had previously justified suicide bombings.
During the collapse of the Assad regime, Abd al-Rahman arrived in Damascus, Syria, and celebrated on social media. In one of the videos, he hurled insults at Egypt and the Gulf states. Among other things, Abd al-Rahman expressed hope for "victory" in countries that experienced similar protests during the "Arab Spring" and warned the Syrians against "plots by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt." It should be noted that the UAE views the Muslim Brotherhood movement as a bitter enemy.
However, the activist was not careful in his actions and thought he could return to Turkey, where he resides, via Lebanon. In January 2025, the authorities in Lebanon arrested him and subsequently extradited him to the UAE following charges of "incitement and disturbance of public security." The extradition came following a request from the Emirati Ministry of Justice to the Lebanese government.
According to the Emirati news agency, the Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi and the Cybercrimes Department convicted al-Qaradawi in late August on several charges, including incitement, and sentenced him to ten years in prison and a fine of 200,000 dirhams. Now, the Emirati president has decided to grant a pardon to the Islamist activist after he spent about a year and eight months in detention.
