Lebanon: poet Al-Qaradawi’s family appeal to prime minister for his immediate release

The family of poet Abdul Rahman Yusuf Al-Qaradawi told the media on Sunday that they have written to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and demanded his immediate release. Al-Qaradawi was arrested on 28 December as he entered Lebanon from Syria.

However, the family confirmed that the son of the late Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi entered Lebanon legally as a Turkish citizen. Nevertheless, he was detained because of a court order issued by Egypt in absentia because of an article that he published in 2012.

Al-Qaradawi’s family noted that his detention contradicts the value of freedom of speech that is upheld in Lebanon. They appealed to Mikati to intervene urgently to ensure his release, stressing that his extradition to any country that demands him would endanger his life.

“As a family, we trust in the wisdom of the Lebanese leadership and the dignified people of Lebanon,” they wrote. “We do not believe that the Lebanese government will be a cause for oppressing or endangering Abdul Rahman Yusuf. Lebanon has always been a symbol of the defence of freedoms, and we appeal to the Lebanese prime minister, in the name of justice and humanity, to intervene immediately to release him and ensure his safe return to his family and three daughters who are waiting for him in Istanbul.”

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