UAE: Presidential Pardon for Abdulrahman Yusuf Al-Qaradawi

Kuwaiti national Abdulrahman Yusuf Al-Qaradawi was granted a pardon by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Friday, according to the Emirates News Agency (WAM). The Federal Court of Appeal in Abu Dhabi, in its Cybercrime Division, had previously convicted him on August 27, sentencing him to 10 years in prison and fining him 200,000 dirhams for the crimes attributed to him. The UAE had announced in 2024 that it had received Abdulrahman Al-Qaradawi from Lebanon “in response to a request for provisional arrest issued against him by the General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Interior Ministers – Criminal Prosecution and Data Department, submitted by the competent authorities in the UAE due to acts that could incite and disrupt public security.” The Emirates News Agency noted that “the extradition order was issued following a request submitted by the UAE’s central authority, represented by the Ministry of Justice, to the central authority in the Republic of Lebanon, in accordance with the principle of reciprocity and the national laws and legislation of both countries.”