• Zaki in handcuffs in the defendant's cage: "I was detained too long"

  • Egypt, NGO: Zaki again questioned, new accusations from the High Prosecutor's Office

  • Zaki, Amnesty International: the first hearing of the trial tomorrow

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September 28, 2021The second hearing of the trial of Patrick Zaki, the Egyptian student of the University of Bologna in prison in Egypt for almost 20 months, is held today in Mansura, on the Nile delta. Like the first hearing held on September 14, today's one is again held before a State Security Court for minor (or emergency) crimes in Mansura, Patrick's hometown. In the new wing of the old Palace of Justice, several dozen cases are expected to be examined in a session lasting several hours from mid-morning.



Last time, the update to today, after a few minutes' hearing, was announced around 3 pm local and Italian time. Given the type of court, it is assumed that the accusation against him which will be debated today on the basis of three newspaper articles is that of "spreading false news inside and outside the country". A crime punished with a maximum of five years in prison. The court can issue a final judgment at any hearing. "He faces up to five years in prison for expressing his views in a peaceful manner", warns Amnesty Europe.  



Furthermore, it has already been confirmed by a student lawyer that the accusations of "undermining national security" and of instigating protest, "the overthrow of the regime", remain standing (it is therefore presumed to be dealt with possibly elsewhere). the use of violence and terrorist crime ": the crime hypotheses based on the ten posts on Facebook of controversial attribution. According to Amnesty International, these are crimes that put him at risk of 25 years in prison, or even life imprisonment, according to Egyptian judicial sources.   



As always happened in the hearings for the renewal of the pre-trial detention, it is also foreseeable for today the presence at the Court of an Italian diplomat in the as part of an EU procedural monitoring involving non-European countries such as Canada.



 On the eve of the trial, Maria Arena (S&D), president of the subcommittee on human rights, also called the trial "unacceptable" and asked for her "immediate release": "His detention derives exclusively from his work for human rights", wrote on Twitter.