The trial of Patrik Zaki has been updated on 6 April : the same Egyptian student from the University of Bologna told ANSA. Zaki faces a sentence of another 5 years in prison in Egypt, and accused of spreading false news . While admitting concern over past allegations of inciting terrorism, Zaki said he does not believe this dossier will be reopened. And he confirmed that he wanted to return to Bologna immediately and, first of all, take a walk in Piazza Maggiore. Before the hearing, Patrick Zaki was held “about half an hour” in the “prison of the accused”. The Egyptian activist himself told reporters after confirming that “the court has just decided to postpone the hearing until April 6.
“It is still an enormously long wait for Patrick to finally have his freedom. And a date that recurs that of April 6: in 2020 and 2021 there were other hearings on this date. Let’s hope it is the last day. in which Patrick will present himself in front of a judge and until then we have to wait, to be close to him and accompany him in this long wait for what we hope will be the last hearing “. This is how Riccardo Noury, spokesman for Amnesty International in Italy, comments on the news of yet another postponement of the hearing on the case of Patrick Zaki to ANSA.
“According to Egyptian law, Hoda (his lawyer, ed) will present all the evidence and evidence to the judge and then we will wait for the final decision that could arrive today even if the magistrate could postpone it for a few days or even a week”, said the Egyptian student from the University of Bologna before the hearing was postponed. “I don’t think the sentence has been finalized today: it could take a few days to draft it”, he reiterated. Patrick Zaki, while admitting he was “worried” about past accusations of incitement to terrorism that the Egyptian prosecutor had made based on posts on Facebook, said he does not believe that this dossier will ever be reopened.
“Sure, I’m worried but I don’t think they can do it. Why should they do this to me
There is no reason “, the Egyptian student told ANSA, answering the question if he fears he will be accused on that front after a possible acquittal in the trial for spreading false news that should end today in Mansura. The ten posts published in a profile he believes to be false had been the basis of the 19 months of custody in prison that preceded the opening, in September, of the trial in his hometown on the Nile delta.
The initial accusations based on the posts had configured, among other things, the crimes of “dissemination of false news, incitement to protest and incitement to violence and terrorist crimes” making him risk 25 years in prison. The proceeding is instead focused exclusively on one of his 2019 articles on discrimination against Egyptian Christians. For the mere “dissemination of false news inside and outside the country” assumed in relation to the article, the maximum penalty is five years of imprisonment. Zaki ‘be an honorary citizen of Rome’, ok Aula Capitolina– Grant honorary citizenship of Rome to Patrick Zaki. This is what the motion approved today unanimously by the Capitoline Assembly asks. “Today could have been a decisive day for the trial of Patrick Zaki, but yet another postponement has arrived. We cannot afford to lower our attention right now”, says Nella Converti, the dem councilor who illustrated the motion signed by majority. “Recognizing honorary citizenship in Zaki, today even more so, is a political act in defense of everyone’s rights,” she adds.
