Egypt. Tomorrow another sentence on custody in prison for Patrick Zaki

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August 22, 2021 "The umpteenth hearing for Patrick Zaki has ended, and now, as always happens, long hours of waiting begin to know the outcome. It is to be hoped that 18 and a half months of detention, without being able to defend himself, for Patrick may be enough ". These are the words of Riccardo Noury, spokesman for Amnesty International Italia, after the hearing this morning on the custody in prison in Egypt of the researcher of the University of Bologna. "There is this coincidence of an important holiday of the Coptic religious community - adds Noury ​​- that we hope will induce the judge to get his hands on his conscience. In short, we wait, hoping that for Patrick it is the moment when this nightmare can end".

One of her lawyers, Hoda Nasrallah in a statement to Ansa made it known that this morning "at noon" she went to the "usual place", then to the "Maahad oumana'a al shorta", the Institute for police assistants attached at the Torah prison, on the far southern outskirts of Cairo, to attend the long session in which Patrick's brief audience is inserted.

After an unspecified number of hours, we generally only learn about the course of the hearing itself while the outcome, that is, whether the human and civil rights activist accused of inciting the overthrow of the Egyptian administration will be released from prison or forced to another 45 days of imprisonment, is notified to the lawyer only the next day.

The new hearing was called a little before the expiration of the month and a half scheduled after the last session which took place on 12 July. So yes the decision will be known tomorrow Monday.

Patrick was arrested on February 7, 2020, that is more than 18 months ago, but the pre-trial detention in Egypt can last 2 years with the possibility of extensions if, during the investigation, new elements of accusation emerge. If he goes to trial, according to Amnesty International, the researcher faces up to 25 years in prison. The charges against him are based on 10 posts from a Facebook account that his lawyers consider edited by another person but which have configured among other things the "dissemination of false news", "incitement to protest" and " L' incitement to violence and terrorist crimes ”.