According to a rights activist, an Egyptian court issued a verdict on Tuesday, sentencing rights researcher Patrick Zaki to three years of imprisonment.
An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced rights researcher Patrick Zaki to three years’ prison, a rights activist said, prompting figures to walk out of a government dialogue aimed at giving the opposition a voice.
Human rights defender Hossam Bahgat, who runs the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights where Zaki worked, said no appeal is possible against the conviction over an article he wrote about religious freedom.
Zaki previously spent 22 months in pre-trial detention until December 2021, and was again taken into custody Tuesday after the court ruling in Mansoura, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Cairo.
His 2020 article recounted his experiences of discrimination as a member of the country’s Coptic Christian minority, who number around 10-15 percent of Egypt’s 105 million people.
The drawn-out case has triggered international condemnation, particularly in Italy where Zaki was studying at Bologna University.
Zaki was arrested in 2020, while returning to visit family, under charges of “spreading false news”, “harming national security” and “incitement to overthrow the state”, among others.
Amnesty International, in a statement released Tuesday in Italian, called the ruling “a scandalous verdict”.
Rights defenders have said Zaki was beaten and electrocuted during his detention.
Thousands in Italy signed petitions calling for Zaki’s release, and the country’s senate voted in 2021 to grant him Italian citizenship.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
