(ANSA) - CAIRO, AUGUST 22 - A new hearing is held today on the renewal of pre-trial detention in Cairo for Patrick Zaki, the Egyptian student of the "Alma Mater" University of Bologna in prison in Egypt for over a year and a half with accusation of subversive propaganda on the internet.
One of his lawyers, Hoda Nasrallah, confirmed yesterday evening in a message to ANSA that today "at noon" he will go to the "usual place", then to the "Maahad oumana'a al shorta", the "Institute for police assistants" annexed to the Torah prison, on the far southern outskirts of Cairo, to attend the long session in which Patrick's brief audience is inserted.
After an unspecified number of hours, one usually learns only of the course of the hearing itself while the outcome - that is, if the human and civil rights activist accused of inciting the overthrow of the Egyptian administration will be released from jail or forced to another 45 days of imprisonment - is notified to the lawyer only the next day. This time tomorrow, Monday.
The new hearing was called a little before the expiry of the month and a half scheduled after the last session which took place on 12 July. Patrick was arrested on February 7, 2020, that is more than 18 months ago, but pre-trial detention in Egypt can last two years with the possibility of extensions if, during the investigation, new elements of accusation emerge. If you go to trial,according to Amnesty International, the researcher faces up to 25 years in prison.
The charges against him are based on ten posts from a Facebook account that his lawyers consider edited by another person but which have configured among other things the "spread of false news", "incitement to protest" and "the incitement to violence and terrorist crimes ". (HANDLE).