UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed pardons poet Abdulrahman al-Qaradawi after 10-year sentence

Presidential pardon and court verdict

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan granted a presidential pardon to Egyptian-Turkish poet Abdulrahman al-Qaradawi on 4 September 2026, according to state news agency WAM. The clemency order arrived one week after the Abu Dhabi Federal Court of Appeal convicted the 54-year-old dissident on 27 August 2026, sentencing him to 10 years in prison alongside a fine of 200,000 dirhams (approximately $54,000 or 46,800 euros). Emirati authorities prosecuted al-Qaradawi on charges of engaging in activities that aim to stir and undermine public security. Prior to the verdict, the Emirati government maintained that his detention complied fully with legal and human rights standards. State media did not immediately specify the exact date when al-Qaradawi, who had been held for months before trial, would be formally released from custody.

Video in Damascus and arrest in Lebanon

The case stems from a trip al-Qaradawi took to Syria in December 2024, days after rebel forces ousted president Bashar al-Assad. During his visit, the poet recorded and published a video from a mosque in Damascus in which he celebrated the collapse of the Assad administration and expressed hope that other autocratic leaders in the region would fall. In the footage, al-Qaradawi warned the Syrian population and incoming leadership against what he called malevolent regimes, directly criticizing the leadership of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Lebanese security forces apprehended al-Qaradawi in late December 2024 as he crossed the border back into Lebanon from Syria.

Extradition and international rights scrutiny

Lebanese authorities extradited al-Qaradawi to Abu Dhabi in January 2025, triggering condemnation from Amnesty International and United Nations human rights experts. Al-Qaradawi held no Emirati citizenship or direct ties to the country, leading rights advocates to warn that the case established a dangerous precedent for extraterritorial prosecution. His Lebanese attorney, Mohammad Sablouh, stated that Egyptian officials had initially requested his extradition based on an Egyptian in absentia verdict that sentenced him to five years in prison for incitement to terrorism and opposition to the state. Lebanese authorities instead handed him over to Emirati officials. The Lebanese interior ministry later stated that the detention and deportation occurred under a prior caretaker government, without providing further operational details.

Family background and regional politics

Al-Qaradawi previously took part in the 2011 Egyptian uprising that removed President Hosni Mubarak from power and remained a public critic of current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He is the son of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a senior Islamic cleric and spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who supported the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings and died in 2022 following decades of exile in Qatar. The elder al-Qaradawi was imprisoned multiple times in Egypt and drew persistent opposition from Gulf and Egyptian authorities over his theological preaching. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in 2014, a designation also adopted by Bahrain and Egypt. Other members of the family have faced state detention in the region, including his sister Ola al-Qaradawi, who was held for four years in arbitrary detention in Egypt on terrorism charges before being freed.