Egyptian activist Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi was held due to an Egyptian arrest warrant, a Lebanese official said.

A group of lawyers and activists have called for the immediate release of Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian opposition activist wanted by Cairo who was detained by Lebanese authorities as he arrived from Syria at the Masnaa border crossing.

Al-Qaradawi, also a poet and the son of the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was arrested over the weekend due to an Egyptian arrest warrant, a Lebanese judicial official said.

The warrant was “based on an Egyptian judiciary ruling” sentencing al-Qaradawi in absentia to five years of prison time on charges of “opposing the state and inciting terrorism”, the official said.

Al-Qaradawi’s lawyer, Mohammed Sablouh, called on Sunday for Lebanese authorities to allow his client to speak to his family.

“[We want to] establish that this person [al-Qaradawi] may be tortured in his country [Egypt], in an attempt to stop him from being handed over and returned,” he said.

Sablouh added that al-Qaradawi has Turkish citizenship, and asked for him to be allowed to travel to Turkey.

Al-Qaradawi’s father was the prominent Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is outlawed in Egypt.

The late scholar was imprisoned several times in Egypt due to his links to the Muslim Brotherhood before he died in 2022 while in exile.

Lebanese authorities “will ask the Egyptian authorities” to transfer Abdul Rahman al-Qaradawi’s file for examination, the judicial official said, requesting anonymity due to not being authorised to speak to the media.

The judiciary will make a recommendation on whether “the conditions are met for him to be extradited” and the matter will be referred to the Lebanese government, which must make the final decision, the official added.

The campaign launched by activists aims to pressure Lebanese authorities and urge them to respect international laws related to the protection of political dissidents and to prevent their extradition to countries that may pose a threat to their lives.

Al-Qaradawi, 53, was a political organiser against the regime of longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled in 2011 in the Arab Spring uprising.

He later became a vocal opponent of current Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who in 2013 overthrew elected president Mohamed Morsi.

Rights groups say Egyptian authorities have detained tens of thousands of people as political prisoners.