The hearing in which it has to be decided whether to extend the precautionary custody of Patrick George Zaky, the Egyptian student of the University of Bologna in prison to Cairo on charges of subversive propaganda. An attorney, Hoda Nasrallah, told ANSA, adding that this postponement is also due to the coronavirus and concerned all the other cases today under examination by the judge.
It is therefore assumed that Patrick, as on other occasions, was not brought to the Prosecutor's office by remaining in the "investigations" section of the Tora prison, on the south-eastern outskirts of Cairo. The student has been detained since February 7 and a month later there was the second fortnightly renewal of the detention: since then, three times in March and three this month, most recently on the 21st, the hearing has always been postponed due to the pandemic of Covid-19 which in Egypt has exceeded 4,780 cases, making nearly 340 victims.
There has been an evening-night curfew in the country for a month, blocking the skies and the closure of gathering places such as restaurants and mosques, where prayer will not be allowed even during the month of the Islamic holy fast of Ramadan that began on Friday.
Among the charges against Patrick, based on a Facebook account that the defense considers managed by others, are "spreading false news", "inciting protest" and "instigating violence and terrorist crimes".