Egyptian activist and poet Abdul Rahman Yusuf Al Qardawi has recently broken his silence following his pardon by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. After serving a brief period of a ten-year sentence handed down by an Abu Dhabi court for undermining public security, Al Qardawi took to social media to reassure his followers. He explicitly clarified that he was treated with respect during his detention, stating, "I was not subjected to any physical or even verbal abuse. This is my testimony." In his post, he expressed deep gratitude to the UAE leadership for their decision to resolve the matter through mediation and suggested that other world leaders should consider similar gestures of clemency to prevent prolonged political disputes.

Al Qardawi, the son of the late Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Al Qardawi, also extended his appreciation to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and various Turkish institutions for their role in facilitating his release. While maintaining that his personal principles and political convictions remain unchanged, the poet announced he would be stepping away from the public eye for an indefinite period to recover from the ordeal. As he reflects on a career marked by vocal opposition to Egyptian leadership and his literary contributions, Al Qardawi’s focus now shifts toward personal recuperation, marking the end of a complex legal chapter that saw him extradited from Lebanon to the UAE just last year.