Lebanon has announced its decision to extradite Egyptian opposition activist Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi to the United Arab Emirates.
The decision follows an Emirati request and was confirmed by Lebanese Information Minister Ziad Makary during a Tuesday news conference.
Qaradawi, the son of the late Yusuf al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested in Lebanon last month.
His arrest came after crossing the Syrian border and was linked to an Egyptian court ruling sentencing him in absentia to five years in prison.
The charges include “opposing the state” and “inciting terrorism,” according to a Lebanese judicial official who spoke anonymously.
Both Egypt and the UAE had filed extradition requests since Qaradawi’s December 28 arrest, judicial sources revealed.
The UAE’s request cited a video Qaradawi posted from Damascus, celebrating the fall of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad and calling for further uprisings.
In the video, Qaradawi criticized “malicious regimes” in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, which the Emiratis deemed incitement.
The UAE also accused Qaradawi of attempting to destabilize Gulf nations through his public statements and political activism.
Qaradawi, also known as a poet, has long been a critic of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his administration.
He gained prominence as a political organizer during the 2011 Arab Spring, which saw the fall of Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak.