Will Abdel-Rahman Qardaoui be extradited? If yes, to the UAE or Egypt?

Egyptian activist Abdel-Rahman Qardaoui was kept in detention on Thursday afternoon by the Advocate General at the Court of Cassation, Myrna Kallas, based on a request from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Prosecutor’s Office. .

While returning from Syria on December 28, Mr. Qardaoui was arrested at the Masnaa border crossing by the General Security (SG) on the basis of an arrest warrant issued, not by the UAE, but by the Council of Arab Interior Ministers, following a sentencing judgment rendered in 2017 by the Egyptian courts, notably for “incitement to violence and dissemination of false information”. The activist is a critic of the Egyptian power which overthrew, in 2013, former president Mohammad Morsi, from the Muslim Brotherhood movement. He is the son of Sheikh Youssef Qardaoui, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, whom Egyptian justice had also convicted in absentia, and who died in Qatar in 2022.

Lebanese prosecutor calls for arrest of Egyptian dissident Qaradaoui after interrogation

Lebanese prosecutor calls for arrest of Egyptian dissident Qaradaoui after interrogation

But it was on the basis of an extradition request made on Monday by the UAE against Mr. Qardaoui for his hostile positions against this state and his alleged incitement to disturb public order there, that Judge Kallas ordered his continued detention. The magistrate has not yet looked into the crimes accused by Egypt, Cairo having only made an extradition request on Thursday. The Egyptian file should be studied on Friday, according to a source close to the file interviewed by L’Orient-Le Jour.

Joined by L’OILMr. Qardaoui’s lawyer, Mohammad Sablouh, affirms that there is no extradition convention between the UAE and Lebanon. A judicial source informed of the case affirms that the Emirati authorities nevertheless cited the principle of reciprocity to justify their extradition request. A principle which, in the absence of a formal agreement, would allow the two States to hand over accused persons to each other, explains this source.

For his part, Me Sablouh affirms that in any event, the extradition should not take place, especially since his client is not an Emirati national, and that the crimes for which he is being prosecuted “are not not punishable in Lebanon, which enshrines freedom of expression.”

“Arab Zionists”

The activist went to Syria after landing in Beirut, from Türkiye, of which he is also a citizen. He was not worried when he crossed the border towards Damascus. But during his stay in the Syrian capital, he broadcast, on the esplanade of the Umayyad Mosque, a video in which he celebrated “the victory of the Syrian revolution against the tyrant Bashar al-Assad”, while advocating “ next victories in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya. “We ask God to allow the Syrian people and the new command to face all the evil challenges posed by the plotters, in particular the Arab Zionist regimes,” he proclaimed in his video, pointing to “the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

According to our information, Abdel Rahman Qardaoui indicated, during his interrogation, that due to the attacks which had targeted him on social networks, he had immediately deleted his video, before returning to Lebanon.

If Me Sablouh confirms the existence of extradition agreements between Lebanon and Egypt, he nevertheless affirms that they do not apply when it comes to crimes of a political nature, or when the perpetrators of these crimes are at risk of torture in the requesting country. He specifies that in any event, the crimes attributed to Mr. Qardaoui date back to 2017 and are now time-barred under the five-year limitation period.

Will the Egyptian opponent be extradited? If yes, to which of the two requesting countries? A question all the more complex as it combines political and legal considerations, which could have an impact on Lebanon’s relations with Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Asked by L’OIL, a magistrate also affirms that it is not the Lebanese justice system, but the Council of Ministers which will have to decide on extradition requests, after having read a report accompanied by legal recommendations submitted to it by the Attorney General near the Court of Cassation, Jamal Hajjar.

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