BEIRUT — Lebanon’s cabinet voted Tuesday to deport to the United Arab Emirates an Egyptian activist and poet detained by Lebanese security forces after crossing the porous border from Syria last month.

Al-Qaradawi's legal troubles stem from a 2017 conviction in Egypt. Lebanese authorities interrogated him about this verdict and an extradition request from the UAE. His arrest followed a widely shared video where he criticised authorities in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt while walking around Damascus' Umayyad Mosque.

Qaradawi, an Egyptian opposition activist wanted by Cairo and son of the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Lebanese judicial official tells AFP. Qaradawi, also a poet, was detained on Saturday as he arrived from Syria at the Masnaa border crossing,

Qardawi, an Egyptian-Turkish poet, was detained in Lebanon on Dec. 28 after returning from Syria, according to his lawyer Mohammad Sablouh.