Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi was extradited to the UAE last month after criticising the government on social media [Getty]
Amnesty International has called for urgent action to be taken to secure the immediate release of the Egyptian-Turkish poet Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi amid growing fears for his safety in detention in the UAE.
The opposition writer has been held incommunicado in the UAE for more than six weeks after Lebanese authorities agreed to extradite him for criticising the Gulf monarchy on social media.
“Fears are growing about the safety of Qaradawi, who was disappeared after being extradited from Lebanon to the UAE on 8 January,” Amnesty wrote on X.
The international rights monitor called on Emirati authorities to “reveal his fate and place of detention and allow the Turkish authorities consular access”.
Qaradawi, the son of influential Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, was detained in Lebanon in late December after filming himself at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus criticising the Emirati, Egyptian and Saudi governments.
The UAE accused him of “spreading false news” and “disturbing public security” and demanded his extradition.
Lebanese authorities complied and deported him in January, despite not having a formal extradition treaty with the Gulf state.
Qaradawi’s family said Wednesday they had received a one-minute phone call with him – the first time they have been in contact with him since his extradition.
The UAE has refused to disclose his location or permit consular visits by Turkish authorities.
Qaradawi was living and working in Turkey prior to his arrest.
“Enforced disappearance is one of the most serious human rights violations and the authorities should clarify his current location, allow him access to his family (even through phone calls) and lawyer as well as uphold his right to consular assistance,” Ines Osman, the executive director of MENA Rights Group, told The New Arab.
“Unfortunately, secret and incommunicado detention of peaceful dissidents is common in the UAE,” she added.
Dozens of regional and international human rights organisations called for Qaradawi’s release in the wake of his extradition.
In a joint statement last month, the organisations said that the deportation was an “alarming legal precedent” and a “flagrant misuse of international security agreements to settle political scores with dissidents”.
Egypt, which had convicted him in absentia of “spreading false news” in 2017, had also submitted an extradition request to Lebanese authorities.
His sister Ola al-Qaradawi has previously spent four years in prison in Egypt on what human rights organisations have branded “bogus terrorism-related charges”.