The Egyptian researcher, human rights
activist and Bologna university alumnus Patrick Zaki has been
granted a presidential pardon, the Egyptian authorities said on
Wednesday.
"President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (...) uses his constitutional
powers and issues a presidential decree granting pardons to a
group of people against whom judicial sentences have been
passed, including Patrick Zaki and Mohamed El-Baqer, in response
to the appeal from the Council of Secretaries of National
Dialogue and political forces," a member of Egypt's Presidential
Pardon Committee, Mohamad Abdelaziz, wrote on Facebook.
On Tuesday a Mansoura court sentenced Zaki to three years in
prison for allegedly spreading fake news.
Following the ruling, the 22-year-old researcher faced a further
14 months in jail having already spent 22 months in pre-trial
detention following his arrest at Cairo airport February 2020
while returning to Egypt from Italy to visit family on separate
charges of subversive propaganda connected to some Facebook
posts.
Zaki was released from custody in December 2021 but subsequently
put on trial for allegedly spreading fake news in relation to
three articles on Coptic Christians in Egypt, and he was banned
from leaving the country.
Earlier this month Zaki obtained a masters degree in women's and
gender studies from Bologna University with the maximum grade of
110 with distinction, defending his thesis via video link after
the authorities in his homeland refused permission for him to
present it in person.
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