(ANSA) - CAIRO, AUGUST 07 - Patrick Zaki has been in prison for a year and a half, that's right.
The Egyptian student from the AlmaMater University of Bologna sleeps on the floor in a crowded cell in the infamous Tora prison on the outskirts of Cairo.
Despite the pressures of public opinion and the monitoring of the European process with Italian traction, the doors of the prison do not open.
On the eve of the anniversary, Riccardo Noury, spokesman for Amnesty International Italy, recalled that "Patrick Zakista has reached the eighteenth month of illegal, arbitrary detention, without trial and without the possibility of defending himself" and that the mobilization in his favor continues. And in the last few hours, the activists who fight for him have stressed that "between a cold winter and a very hot summer, Patrick suffers in his cell with almost non-existent resources and inhuman conditions of detention".
The 30-year-old Egyptian student was arrested in controversial circumstances on February 7 last year and, according to Amnesty, faces up to 25 years in prison. Custody in Egypt can last two years, but if new charges arise during the investigation, it can be extended further, as demonstrated by the hunger strike recently initiated by the daughter of an Islamic preacher who has been incarcerated without trial for four years.
After an initial five-month phase of fortnightly renewals delayed by the Covid emergency, Patrick's case is now in the 45-day extension and the most recent prison renewal was ordered in the middle of last month: his prospect is therefore to go to his cell. also the second half of August. (HANDLE).
