CAIRO – Patrick George Zaki, a prominent Egyptian rights activist with ties to Italy, has been released from jail, as reported by his family and a rights defender. President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi granted him a pardon along with five others, as per the country’s Official Gazette.
Zaki, a postgraduate student in Italy, was arrested in February 2020 shortly after his return to Cairo from Italy, where he was studying at the University of Bologna. After spending 22 months in pretrial detention, he was released in December 2021 but remained in Egypt under travel restrictions, awaiting trial.
Earlier this week, Zaki was sentenced to three years in prison for an opinion article he wrote in 2019. However, the recent presidential pardon has resulted in his release.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni confirmed that Zaki will return to Italy on Thursday, expressing gratitude to the intelligence and diplomats from both Italy and Egypt for their efforts in reaching this resolution.
Another rights lawyer, Mohammed el-Baker, was also among those pardoned. El-Baker had been arrested in September 2019 and was sentenced to four years in prison in 2021 on charges of disseminating false news, misuse of social media, and joining a terrorist group. His release was still pending at the time of reporting.
The pardoning of Zaki and el-Baker comes as a significant development in the context of human rights activism in Egypt, and it remains to be seen how this will impact the broader rights landscape in the country.