Calls grow for release of jailed poet al-Qaradawi after arrest in Lebanon

Egyptian activist Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi was held due to an Egyptian arrest warrant, a Lebanese official said.

A group of lawyers and activists have called for the immediate release of Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian opposition activist wanted by Cairo who was detained by Lebanese authorities as he arrived from Syria at the Masnaa border crossing.

Al-Qaradawi, also a poet and the son of the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested over the weekend due to an Egyptian arrest warrant, a Lebanese judicial official said.

The warrant was “based on an Egyptian judiciary ruling” sentencing al-Qaradawi in absentia to five years of prison time on charges of “opposing the state and inciting terrorism”, the official said.

Al-Qaradawi’s lawyer, Mohammed Sablouh, called on Sunday for Lebanese authorities to allow his client to speak to his family.

“[We want to] establish that this person [al-Qaradawi] may be tortured in his country [Egypt], in an attempt to stop him from being handed over and returned,” he said.