"According to Egyptian law today my lawyer will present all the evidence and evidence to the judge and then we will wait for the final decision which could arrive today even if the magistrate could postpone it for a few days or even a week".

Thus, this morning, Patrick Zaki, the Egyptian student of the University of Bologna, about the trial on the dissemination of false news that should end today in Mansura.

Then the update, by the voice of Patrick himself: the process was updated on April 6.

Patrick Zaki, while admitting he was "worried" about past accusations of incitement to terrorism that the Egyptian prosecutor had made based on posts on Facebook, said he does not believe that this dossier will ever be reopened. And therefore despite the risk of another 5 years in prison in Egypt, there is an air of cautious optimism on his part and in circles close to the student and activist.

"Sure, I'm worried but I don't think they can do it. Why should they do this to me? There's no reason," Zaki said again.

The ten posts published on a profile he believes to be false had been the basis of the 19 months of custody in prison that preceded the opening, in September, of the trial in his hometown on the Nile Delta. The initial accusations based on the posts had configured, among other things, the crimes of "dissemination of false news, incitement to protest and incitement to violence and terrorist crimes" making him risk 25 years in prison.

The procedure, updated in April, is instead focused exclusively on one of his articles from 2019 on the discrimination of Egyptian Christians. And for the mere "dissemination of false news inside and outside the country" hypothesized in relation to the article, the maximum penalty is five years of imprisonment.

"I hope everything goes well. I'm a little optimistic and we cross our fingers so that something good happens," said the student from the University of Bologna. "Immediately afterwards I will try to return to Bologna - he added - I hope very soon". When asked what will be the "first thing" he will do in the capital of Emilia-Romagna, the activist and researcher replied: "I will go to the Piazza Major, and then to university ".

At the hearing, at the request of Italy, diplomats from Italy, USA, Germany, Spain, Belgium as well as a lawyer representing the European Union arrived in Mansoura.

The representatives of the five countries intervened in the context of a European procedural monitoring of which Italy is the promoter. Italy, with other countries in rotation, followed all the hearings of the now biennial judicial case of the student.

(Unioneonline / vl)

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