UAE Extradites Abdulrahman Qaradawi from Lebanon

The United Arab Emirates has announced that it has received Abdulrahman Qaradawi, an Egyptian poet and opposition activist who also holds Turkish citizenship, from Lebanon. In an official statement released by the UAE news agency on Thursday, January 10, it was stated: "The UAE Ministry of Justice had submitted a formal request for the extradition of Abdulrahman Qaradawi to the Lebanese Ministry of Justice." The statement added that Qaradawi has been accused of "actions that undermine public security." According to the statement, "The UAE has taken decisive action against anyone targeting its security and stability and will not hesitate to pursue wanted individuals to bring them to justice." Abdulrahman Qaradawi is the son of Yusuf Qaradawi, a prominent Egyptian Islamist cleric who passed away about two years ago. Yusuf Qaradawi, who also acquired Qatari citizenship, had been arrested multiple times in Egypt on charges of links to the Muslim Brotherhood. Abdulrahman Qaradawi was an activist during the government of Hosni Mubarak, the former president of Egypt, who was overthrown in the 2011 revolution. After the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt in 2013, led by Mohamed Morsi, Abdulrahman Qaradawi became one of the opponents of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the current president of Egypt. Abdulrahman Qaradawi was arrested on December 8 after entering Lebanon from Syria at the "Masnaa" border crossing based on an arrest warrant issued by Egypt. According to a Lebanese judicial source cited by AFP, Egypt and the UAE submitted a formal request for the extradition of Abdulrahman Qaradawi to the Lebanese government. Eventually, Ziad Makawi, the Minister of Information of the Lebanese government, announced that the country decided to extradite Qaradawi to the UAE. While in Syria, Abdulrahman Qaradawi released a video of himself at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, expressing joy over the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria and speaking of his hopes for "victory" in other Arab countries, including Egypt. He also warned the Syrians about what he called "the malicious challenges that the world, led by the shameful Arab regimes in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, is conspiring to create." In the formal request submitted by the UAE to the Lebanese government, extradition of Qaradawi was sought for trial based on this video, which Abu Dhabi considered "incitement against stability in the UAE." The video was widely circulated on social media. Some Egyptian media activists close to Sisi called for the extradition of Abdulrahman Qaradawi to Egypt. The previous regime in Syria, led by Bashar al-Assad, was overthrown on December 9, 2020, 11 days after the start of the armed Islamist opposition groups' movement that began in the northern regions of the country, led by the "Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham," which is recognized as "terrorist" by the United States.