It is a sentence that the one awaiting cannot appeal Patrick Zaki. The thirty-year-old Egyptian student at the University of Bologna goes to trial. 19 months have passed since his arrest and there can be no more than 24 pre-trial detention under Egyptian law. Zaki must therefore be released from prison or tried. Egypt chose the path of trial by formalizing accusations that had always remained vague.
The charges known so far were linked to alleged posts published on social media that would be subversive propaganda for the government of Al Sisi and would have the purpose of terrorism.
These seem to have fallen. The accusation now formalized concerns a written article from 2019 in defense of the Coptic Christian minority with which Zaki allegedly spread false news in Egypt and abroad. In the article published on the website, Daraj denounced the persecutions in Egypt of the Copts, a minority to which he belongs, through a diary.
“As feared, after a year and seven months of pre-trial detention, Patrick Zaki goes to trial,” the spokesperson for Amnesty Italia wrote on twitter. Riccardo Noury.
We knew that the Egyptian prosecutor would come up with something to justify the start of the trial #PatrickZaki. For a paper in defense of a persecuted Coptic minority in Egypt, Patrick would face up to 5 years in prison #FreePatrickZaki pic.twitter.com/aIeHDxlpcs
— Amnesty Italia (@amnestyitalia) September 13, 2021
He risks a fine, but also a sentence of up to five years by the Mansoura Court for State Security. It is not possible to appeal against the sentences of this court. Amnesty’s request is that “Italy does not waste time because every minute that passes without serious diplomatic action is a culpably lost minute”.
“We hoped he would be released as the allegations are false and the falsified arrest report. But now we face his trial on the basis of an article he wrote! », Said the Egyptian NGO for human rights with which Zaki collaborates. According to the organization this is a trial of freedom of expression. After this first hearing it is not known how many others there will be. The request is that a European representative is always present to ensure the correctness of the procedure.
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