Egypt postpones trial of researcher Patrick Zaki for third time
An Egyptian court on Tuesday postponed the trial of activist Patrick Zaki to 6 April, Reuters reported citing a judicial source.
Zaki, a 28-year-old researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), had been studying at Italy's Bologna University when he was taken into custody upon his return to Cairo in February 2020. His detention followed his publication of an article about the plight of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority.
He was freed in December after the Emergency State Security Misdemeanour Court ordered his provisional release pending trial on charges of "calling for protests without permission", "spreading false news" and "inciting violence and terrorism".
The source told Reuters the trial, scheduled for 1 February, was adjourned "to allow for legal proceedings" without providing details.
Tuesday's hearing was the third time Zaki's trial was adjourned since the first session, on 14 September 2020.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) told Middle East Eye that Zaki was subject to physical torture in the days after his arrest.
The Italian prime minister had welcomed Zaki's release and said his government is closely watching the case.
Prior to his arrest, Zaki campaigned for the truth about the 2016 murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni.
His arrest sparked a solidarity campaign in Italy, with politicians and activists urging Egyptian authorities to release him. Regeni's family has also expressed solidarity with the activist.
In April, the Italian Senate voted to approve a proposal by two lawmakers urging the government to grant Zaki Italian citizenship.
Meanwhile, more than 50 Italian cities have announced the granting of “honorary citizenship” of their city to Zaki. This was done, EIPR said, in order to show their appreciation for his work as a human rights defender and to demand his immediate release in a campaign called 100 Cities with Patrick, launched by a group of human rights activists in Italy.
Egypt has embarked on a brutal crackdown on dissent since a coup led by then-defence minister Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in 2013, jailing more than 60,000 activists and imposing strict censorship measures on public discourse.
Sisi, president since 2014, has consistently denied that there are political prisoners in Egypt, framing the crackdown as part of a fight against terrorism.
Three other colleagues of Zaki at the EIPR, including the organisation's head, Gasser Abdel Razek, its criminal justice director, Karim Ennarah, and an administrator, Mohamed Basheer, were briefly detained in November 2020 after meeting with diplomats from France, the United States and several other European countries to discuss Egypt’s human rights conditions.
They were released a month later after a high-profile international campaign calling for their release.
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