BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities have arrested Abdul Rahman Al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian opposition activist wanted by Cairo and son of the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Lebanese judicial official told AFP on Sunday.
Qaradawi, also a poet, was detained on Saturday as he arrived from Syria at the Masnaa border crossing due to an Egyptian arrest warrant, the official said.
The warrant was “based on an Egyptian judiciary ruling” sentencing Qaradawi in absentia to five years’ jail on charges of “opposing the state and inciting terrorism,” the official added.
His father was prominent Sunni scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood which is outlawed in Egypt.
The late scholar was imprisoned several times in Egypt over his links to the Muslim Brotherhood. He died in 2022 after decades in exile in Qatar.
Lebanese authorities “will ask the Egyptian authorities” to transfer Al-Qaradawi’s file for examination, the judicial official said, requesting anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the media.
The judiciary will make a recommendation on whether “the conditions are met for him to be extradited” and the matter will be referred to the Lebanese government, which must make the final decision, the official added.
Qaradawi was a political organizer against the government of longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in 2011 in the Arab Spring uprising.
He later became a vocal opponent of current Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
A family friend told AFP that Qaradawi holds Turkish citizenship and was returning from a visit to Syria, where militants led by Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Assad on December 8.
Assad’s ousting came more than 13 years after war broke out in Syria with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.
Qaradawi had posted a video online taken at Damascus’s Umayyad mosque, celebrating Assad’s fall.
The video has circulated widely including on Egyptian media, where local outlets have described it as “insulting.”
Some commentators close to El-Sisi’s government have demanded Qaradawi be handed over to Egyptian authorities.
Cairo blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist” organization in 2013, and has since jailed thousands of its members and supporters and executed dozens.
Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s daughter Ola was detained in Egypt for four and a half years over her links to the organization. She was released in 2021.
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Lebanon arrests late Muslim Brotherhood leader’s son wanted by Egypt, says judicial official
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Lebanon arrests late Muslim Brotherhood leader’s son wanted by Egypt, says judicial official
- Qaradawi was detained on Saturday as he arrived from Syria at the Masnaa border crossing
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Syrian Alawites protest in coastal heartland after mosque bombing
- Syrian Alawites took to the streets on Sunday in the coastal city of Latakia to protest after a mosque bombing that killed eight people in Homs two days before
LATAKIA: Syrian Alawites took to the streets on Sunday in the coastal city of Latakia to protest after a mosque bombing that killed eight people in Homs two days before.
The attack, which took place in an Alawite area of Homs city, was the latest against the religious minority, which has been the target of several episodes of violence since the December 2024 fall of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite.
Security forces were deployed in the area, and intervened to break up clashes between demonstrators and counter-protesters, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
“Why the killing? Why the assassination? Why the kidnapping? Why these random actions without any deterrent, accountability or oversight?” said protester Numeir Ramadan, a 48-year-old trader.
“Assad is gone, and we do not support Assad... Why this killing?“
Sunday’s demonstration came after calls from prominent spiritual leader Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, who on Saturday urged people to “show the world that the Alawite community cannot be humiliated or marginalized.”
“We do not want a civil war, we want political federalism. We do not want your terrorism. We want to determine our own destiny,” he said in a video message on Facebook.
Protesters carried pictures of Ghazal along with banners expressing support for him, while chanting calls for decentralized government authority and a degree of regional autonomy.
“Our first demand is federalism to stop the bloodshed, because Alawite blood is not cheap, and Syrian blood in general is not cheap. We are being killed because we are Alawites,” Hadil Salha, a 40-year-old housewife said.
Most Syrians are Sunni Muslim, and the city of Homs — where Friday’s bombing took place — is home to a Sunni majority but also has several areas that are predominantly Alawite, a community whose faith stems from Shiite Islam.
The community is otherwise mostly present across their coastal heartland in Latakia and Tartus provinces.
Since Assad’s fall, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and Homs province residents have reported kidnappings and killings targeting members of the minority community.
- Alawite massacres -
The country has also seen several bloody flare-ups of sectarian violence.
Syria’s coastal areas saw the massacre of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.
A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.
Late last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the coast to protest fresh attacks targeting Alawites in Homs and other regions.
Before and after the March bloodshed, authorities carried out a massive arrest campaign in predominantly Alawite areas, which are also former Assad strongholds.
Protesters on Sunday also demanded the release of detainees.
On Friday, Syrian state television reported the release of 70 detainees in Latakia “after it was proven that they were not involved in war crimes,” saying more releases would follow.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all Syria’s communities will be protected, the country’s minorities remain wary of their future under the new Islamist authorities, who have so far rejected calls for federalism.
The attack, which took place in an Alawite area of Homs city, was the latest against the religious minority, which has been the target of several episodes of violence since the December 2024 fall of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite.
Security forces were deployed in the area, and intervened to break up clashes between demonstrators and counter-protesters, an AFP correspondent witnessed.
“Why the killing? Why the assassination? Why the kidnapping? Why these random actions without any deterrent, accountability or oversight?” said protester Numeir Ramadan, a 48-year-old trader.
“Assad is gone, and we do not support Assad... Why this killing?“
Sunday’s demonstration came after calls from prominent spiritual leader Ghazal Ghazal, head of the Islamic Alawite Council in Syria and Abroad, who on Saturday urged people to “show the world that the Alawite community cannot be humiliated or marginalized.”
“We do not want a civil war, we want political federalism. We do not want your terrorism. We want to determine our own destiny,” he said in a video message on Facebook.
Protesters carried pictures of Ghazal along with banners expressing support for him, while chanting calls for decentralized government authority and a degree of regional autonomy.
“Our first demand is federalism to stop the bloodshed, because Alawite blood is not cheap, and Syrian blood in general is not cheap. We are being killed because we are Alawites,” Hadil Salha, a 40-year-old housewife said.
Most Syrians are Sunni Muslim, and the city of Homs — where Friday’s bombing took place — is home to a Sunni majority but also has several areas that are predominantly Alawite, a community whose faith stems from Shiite Islam.
The community is otherwise mostly present across their coastal heartland in Latakia and Tartus provinces.
Since Assad’s fall, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor and Homs province residents have reported kidnappings and killings targeting members of the minority community.
- Alawite massacres -
The country has also seen several bloody flare-ups of sectarian violence.
Syria’s coastal areas saw the massacre of Alawite civilians in March, with authorities accusing armed Assad supporters of sparking the violence by attacking security forces.
A national commission of inquiry said at least 1,426 members of the minority were killed, while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor put the toll at more than 1,700.
Late last month, thousands of people demonstrated on the coast to protest fresh attacks targeting Alawites in Homs and other regions.
Before and after the March bloodshed, authorities carried out a massive arrest campaign in predominantly Alawite areas, which are also former Assad strongholds.
Protesters on Sunday also demanded the release of detainees.
On Friday, Syrian state television reported the release of 70 detainees in Latakia “after it was proven that they were not involved in war crimes,” saying more releases would follow.
Despite assurances from Damascus that all Syria’s communities will be protected, the country’s minorities remain wary of their future under the new Islamist authorities, who have so far rejected calls for federalism.
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