Egypt releases senior cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi's daughter from jail after 4 years

Egyptian authorities on Friday released the daughter of senior Islamic scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi after four years of detention.

Ola al-Qaradawi was released from prison pending further investigation in a decision by the public prosecutor, according to Egypt’s state-run news agency Middle East News Agency.

Her case involves a number of Muslim Brotherhood leaders, as defendants face accusations of participating in plots to carry out "terrorist operations targeting security forces and disrupting the work of state institutions", according to the agency.

Ola was charged with "joining a terrorist group and financing terrorism", the second charge against her since her arrest and the detention of her husband, Hossam Khalaf, more than four years ago.

Her defence team has repeatedly argued that her arrest was merely political.

Egypt has sentenced Qatar-based Yusuf al-Qaradawi to life in prison in absentia, accusing him of perpetrating a range of crimes – including murder and theft – after Egypt's 2013 military coup. For a while, this prompted Interpol to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Since the military overthrow in July 2013 of Egypt's first democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, the government of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has engaged in the systematic repression of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi was a member.

It has done so by implementing policies commonly regarded as effective means of "decapitating" hierarchical organisations, particularly those with a significant ability to mobilise grassroots support and generate public sympathy.

Within months of the coup against the now-deceased Morsi, the Egyptian military took several measures to undermine the Muslim Brotherhood - arresting thousands of members, banning it in September 2013, and declaring it a terrorist organisation in December that same year.

The Muslim Brotherhood rejects the allegations, maintaining that it is committed to peaceful activism.