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by Tiziana Di Giovannandrea 08 February 2020Egyptian activist and researcher Patrick George Zaki, 27, student of the Gemma master's degree at the University of Bologna, was arrested by the Egyptian authorities upon arrival at Cairo airport on the night of Thursday 6 and Friday 7 February.The arrest occurred on the basis of a 2019 arrest warrant, of which the activist was unaware. The charges are unknown.
The young man left Bologna to go home for a holiday. The family denied that he returned to the family home. He is currently in custody at the prosecutor's office in his hometown of Mansoura.
The news was initially disseminated by the Dire Amnesty International agency and then confirmed on social media by the Eipr (Egyptian Initiative for Personal rights) association with which Patrick George Zaki has an active collaboration.
Amnesty Italy spokesman Riccardo Noury announced on Twitter that: "The Egyptian judicial authorities have confirmed the arrest of activist Patrick George, student of the Gemma Master in Bologna. He disappeared for a few hours upon arrival in Cairo, he is now under arrest in the hometown of al Mansoura ". Noury denounces the "risk of prolonged detention and torture".
According to what has been reconstructed by other Egyptian activists, Zaki, who was manager of the presidential campaign of Khaled Ali, one of the opponents of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, was stopped at the airport of Cairo, just landed. After long hours of interrogation he was brought before a judge this morning on February 8 in his hometown of Al Mansoura. The authorities confirm that the arrest took place in execution of an arrest warrant issued in 2019.
Online petition, over a thousand members
Amnesty Bologna on the Change.org website immediately published an online petition to put pressure on the Egyptian government to free Patrick George Zaky. In a few tens of minutes, the appeal gathered over a thousand members. "Patrick George Zaki - reads - was kidnapped by the Egyptian state security forces upon arrival at Cairo airport to spend the holidays in the country". Patrick "forcibly disappeared for 24 hours" then "reappeared" with the Egyptian authorities who "say they arrested him in Mansoura, his hometown" and the place where his family lives. "The Egyptian security forces - concludes the appeal on Change.org - are the same ones involved in the murder of the Italian researcher Giulio Regeni in Cairo in 2016".