The family of the Egyptian poet and writer Abdulrahman Al-Qaradawi, son of the late Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, have sent an official letter to Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, demanding that he immediately intervene to release the poet who is currently being held in Lebanon.
In a published on Sunday, Qaradawi's family - who live in Turkey as citizens of the country - confirmed that his detention by Lebanon was "based on malicious accusations and an unjust judicial ruling issued against him in Egypt in 2017".
Abdulrahman was found guilty in an absentia ruling by the Egyptian government on charges of "publishing false statements, media articles and literary poems in 2017", as part of Egypt's wider crackdown on any opposition to the current regime of Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
The family said it held Mikati responsible for Abdul-Rahman's safety while imprisoned in Lebanon and urged for his safe arrival to his family in Turkey. They also stressed that handing him over to any country pursuing him "puts his life in danger, especially in light of the well-known record of human rights violations in those countries," according to the statement.
The statement comes amid claims that Lebanon could hand Qaradawi over to the UAE before 9 January, when a parliamentary session in Beirut is expected to take place to elect a new president.
The UAE is thought to have requested his arrest and extradition by Lebanon based on a video the Egyptian made at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, celebrating the fall of the Assad regime.
In the video, Abdul Rahman calls for the overthrow of "shameful Arab regimes" and "Zionist Arabs", particularly "the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt".
The claims came from the Egyptian poet's Lebanese lawyer Mohammed Sablouh, who pointed out that any such extradition from Beirut to Abu Dhabi would be unlawful on multiple grounds, most notably that Qaradawi was not a citizen of the UAE and there was no extradition treaty between Lebanon and the UAE.
Haydee Dijkstal, a specialist in international law who has taken over Qaradawi's case, that Lebanon was a signatory to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT).
Dijkastal warned Lebanon against violating the convention that makes it illegal for Lebanon to extradite any prisoner to a country where they face a significant risk of torture or mistreatment, which would include consistent human rights abusers such as the UAE and Egypt.
Qaradawi was initially detained at Beirut International Airport following his return from Syria, after alleged cooperation between Lebanese and Egyptian authorities to track down opposition activists living abroad.
He played a notable role in the 2011 Egyptian revolution that saw dictator Hosni Mubarak ousted, while he has also been critical of the regime of current Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
While he is known for his liberal politics, including his founding of the left-leaning ‘Kifaya’ (Enough) movement, his father, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, was a spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is outlawed in Egypt.