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The trial of Patrick George Zaki, a researcher and human rights advocate who has been detained since the beginning of last year, has begun in Egypt.
When the 30-year-old was arrested in February 2020, he was taking a leave of absence from the Egyptian Individual Rights Initiative (EIPR) to study in Italy. He appeared in a special emergency national security court in a city in the Nile Delta. Mansoura on Tuesday.
Zaki was detained for 19 months before trial. He was charged on Monday with “spreading false information at home and abroad” and could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
In the indictment, the Supreme Procuratorate of National Security of Egypt (SSSP) cited an article written by the researcher two years ago as the reason for the arrest, in which he personally described his hardships in Egypt as a Copt.
Amnesty International Egypt and Libya researcher Hussein Baomi told Al Jazeera: “It is really unpleasant to think of someone going to jail for up to five years for writing an article.”
Baomi said that although these courts should only hear the most serious crimes of terrorism, “the Egyptian authorities have been using the entire anti-terrorism discourse to imprison and punish opponents and critics of peace.”
The court adjourned to September 28. It is not clear how long it will take for the special court to make a ruling, where it is not possible to appeal the ruling.
Representatives from the embassies of Italy, Germany, and Canada and a lawyer from the European Union attended the hearing. Zaki is studying for a master’s degree in gender and women’s studies at the University of Bologna, Italy, when he was detained after landing in Cairo on February 7, 2020 and conducting a short home visit.
Zaki’s arrest shocked Italy. The case is similar to the disappearance of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni, who was found incomplete on the outskirts of Cairo on February 3, 2016. The Italian branch of Amnesty International has been taking the lead in efforts to pressure the Ministry of the Interior to grant Zaki Italian citizenship. The mayors of some cities independently conferred honorary citizenship on researchers.
Zaki’s lawyer said that last year, the researchers were tortured and threatened during the interrogation, and Egypt’s top prosecutor rejected the accusation.
The Egyptian National Security Agency insisted that Zaki was responsible for disseminating what it called “inflammatory materials directed at national institutions and figures.”
People walked past the mural near the University of Bologna, depicting Giulio Regeni, an Italian student killed in Egypt in 2016. He told Patrick Zaki: “Everything will be fine this time.” [File: Michele Lapini/Getty Images]The indictment came days after Egyptian President Abdul Fatah Al-Sisi launched the National Human Rights Strategy 2021-2026 on Saturday.
According to the presidential statement, the strategy aims to strengthen respect for “all civil, political, social, economic and cultural rights”, including the rights of religious minorities.
“I don’t think Egypt needs more documents on what kind of human rights strategy should be adopted. What it lacks is political will,” Human Rights Watch researcher Amr Magdi told Al Jazeera.
Magdi said that Egypt’s strategy is in sharp contrast with the latest local developments.
Members of the Egyptian Council for Rights and Freedoms have been recording and exposing human rights violations through social media accounts, and they appeared in the emergency court on Saturday.
On Monday, Egyptian political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah (Alaa Abdel Fattah) Detained before trial In the past two years, he told his lawyer that he was considering suicide due to poor detention conditions.
Alaa Abdel Fattah at his home in Cairo on May 17, 2019 [File: Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images]“We have not seen any signs that the Egyptian government is willing to relax its nationwide repression or resolve any systemic violations,” Magdi said.
The European Parliament passed a resolution in December last year urging member states to consider imposing targeted restrictions on Egypt in response to its “continued and strengthened suppression of fundamental rights and persecution of human rights defenders.”
The resolution also seems to condemn EU countries for failing to put human rights above economic interests, and urges EU member states to stop all military equipment exports.
Egypt rejected these claims, accusing the European Parliament of pursuing “political goals and unbalanced policies.”
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