Egypt moves to prosecute prominent cleric Sheikh Qaradawi

Prosecutors in Cairo have referred an alleged civil defamation claim against internationally renowned Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi to the Higher State Security Prosecution Service, which is a judicial branch concerned with cases related to national security.

The report accuses the famous scholar, who has a global following, of libelling and slandering Adly Mansour, the country’s former interim president who assumed power after Egypt’s first and only democratically elected leader, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted from the presidency in July 2013 by the military.

The report was filed by Samir Sabri, a controversial Egyptian lawyer known for filing claims against opponents of Egypt’s authorities. In the claim that he filed against Al-Qaradawi in 2013, he accuses the scholar of being a leading figure in the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group and libelling Adly Mansour.

Al-Qaradawi has been vocal in his opposition to Morsi’s military ouster by current President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

In an interview aired on Aljazeera in July 2013, shortly following Morsi’s ouster, Al-Qaradawi accused the then-interim president of being a “clown” as he denounced the putsch against Egypt’s only democratically elected government.