Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. More than 30 human rights groups have urged the UK and EU to intervene on behalf of an activist extradited from Lebanon to the United Arab Emirates, a case that has raised fears about cross-border repression in the Middle East. Abdulrahman al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian poet and activist critical of his country’s authoritarian president Fattah el-Sisi, was extradited to the UAE in January over a video he posted while in Damascus following the fall of dictator Bashar al-Assad in December. In the clip, Qaradawi called Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE “Arab regimes of shame”, warning they would try to conspire against Syria. The dissident’s case has shone a light on what human rights defenders say are increasingly co-ordinated efforts by authoritarian states to crack down on dissent across the region. “Abdulrahman’s case involves transnational repression, where states collaborate to silence dissent beyond their borders,” said the letter, addressed to UK foreign secretary David Lammy and the EU’s top foreign affairs official Kaja Kallas. “This is not an isolated incident but part of a broader issue affecting human rights defenders, activists, and writers in the region.” Signatories include Amnesty International, writers association PEN International and multiple regional human rights groups. The UK considers the UAE an important ally and source of investment in the Middle East. Qaradawi’s international lawyer Rodney Dixon called the extradition process, which took about 10 days and in which Qaradawi did not have the opportunity to defend himself, “abduction in plain sight”. UAE state media says Qaradawi “faces charges of engaging in activities that aim to stir and undermine public security”. Dixon alleged Qaradawi has been held without formal charges in solitary confinement for three months in an unknown location in the UAE. Human rights organisations argue his detention amounts to “enforced disappearance”, and UN human rights experts have called on the UAE to reveal Qaradawi’s whereabouts. “This is happening in a country that claims to champion tolerance and coexistence,” said Dixon. “It’s alarming that such an act can occur in a nation that seeks to project itself as a leader on the global stage.” Abu Dhabi and Cairo are close allies. The UAE opposed the shortlived Muslim Brotherhood rule in Egypt following the 2011 uprisings — in which Qaradawi was a vocal activist — and swung behind Sisi, who has ruthlessly suppressed dissent in the nation. Qaradawi’s father, Yusuf, was an influential Islamic scholar and a key spiritual figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, but the son is not a member of the movement. Qaradawi’s sister spent four years in prison in Egypt on terrorism funding charges that Amnesty International has called “unfounded”. She was released in 2021, but her husband who was arrested at the same time is still jailed. Qaradawi’s detention in the UAE comes after a 2022 poem he wrote that used sexual imagery to insult UAE leader Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, along with the rulers of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, describing them as traitors to the Palestinian cause. Lebanese security authorities detained Qaradawi, who also holds Turkish nationality, in Beirut in late December. The UAE had requested a provisional arrest warrant from regional security body the Arab Interior Ministers’ Council, which Freedom House has described as having an “influential role” in the crackdown on dissent in the region, as well as making an extradition request to Lebanon. Egypt had also demanded the extradition of Qaradawi, where he was sentenced in absentia in 2017 to three years in prison on charges of spreading false news. But in what has widely been seen as a reflection of the UAE’s regional clout, he was handed to Abu Dhabi, where there was no known legal case against him. “Cases like Abdulrahman’s have an immense chilling effect across the region,” said Kristine Beckerle, Beirut-based deputy regional director at Amnesty International. “The message is clear: ‘Do not speak out on certain things. Regardless of where you are, we’ll find you.’” The UAE’s foreign ministry and Lebanese government did not respond to a request for comment. Additional reporting by Raya Jalabi