Abdul Rahman Al Qaradawi, the son of the late spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and an Egyptian opposition activist wanted by Cairo, has been taken into custody by Lebanese police, a Lebanese judicial official told on Sunday.According to the source, Al Qaradawi, a poet as well, was arrested on Saturday upon his arrival from Syria at the Masnaa border crossing because of an arrest warrant issued by Egypt. According to the official, the warrant was "based on an Egyptian judiciary ruling" that sentenced Al Qaradawi to five years in prison in absentia for "opposing the state and inciting terrorism."His father was 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 over his links to the Muslim Brotherhood. He died in 2022 after decades in exile in Qatar.Lebanese authorities "will ask the Egyptian authorities" to transfer Abdul Rahman Al Qaradawi's file for examination, the judicial official said, requesting anonymity as they were not 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.Al Qaradawi was a political organiser against the government 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 Al Sisi who in 2013 overthrew elected president Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood.A family friend told that Al Qaradawi holds Turkish citizenship and was returning from a visit to Syria, where rebels led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham toppled longtime Syrian ruler Bashar Al Assad on December 8.

Assad's ousting came more than 13 years after war broke out in Syria with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.