United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has pardoned Egyptian Turkish poet Abdulrahman Youssef al Qaradawi, a week after he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the state news agency WAM reported on Friday.
Qaradawi, the son of the late Muslim cleric Youssef al Qaradawi, was arrested in Lebanon in December 2024 after posting a video online criticising the authorities of the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
He was extradited from Lebanon to the UAE in January 2025 and faced charges of engaging in activities aimed at stirring and undermining public security.
A UAE court sentenced him to 10 years in prison last week. His pardon by Sheikh Mohamed comes after rights groups and United Nations experts called for his release, arguing that he had been detained for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
Qaradawi’s father, who died in 2022, was a prominent Islamist scholar and spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood. He supported the Arab Spring uprisings that began in 2011 and was frequently criticised by governments in Egypt and the Gulf for his Islamist views and preaching.
The younger Qaradawi holds Egyptian and Turkish citizenship and has written poetry and other works. His case had attracted international attention because of concerns over his arrest, extradition and subsequent imprisonment.
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