SW News: A Coptic Christian human rights researcher sentenced by an Egyptian court to three years in jail for allegedly spreading fake news was pardoned by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday, July 19. 32-year-old Patrick Zaki was accused of propagating false news in connection with an article in which he recollected the discrimination faced by Christians in the Muslim-majority country.

According to the al-Ahram newspaper funded by the government, prominent lawyer el-Baqer was also pardoned by the president. He is the attorney of Alaa Abd el-Fatah, one of the most famous political prisoners in the country. The lawyer was arrested in 2019 and in 2021, he was given four years imprisonment for allegedly spreading false news and misusing social media platforms. He was also accused of joining a terrorist outfit.

The news of the presidential pardon was welcomed by rights activists. On Twitter, noted human rights champion Hossam Bahgat said, “We welcome the news of their pardon and call for the immediate release of thousands still detained in Egypt on political grounds.” It was his Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights that fought the case of Zaki in court.

Zaki’s pardon came soon after the US Department of State tweeted its concern over the jail term given to the University of Bologna scholar and sought his immediate release. He was detained at Cairo International Airport in February 2020 when he arrived from Italy to visit his family.

Once he is released, he will return to Italy, said Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. “Tomorrow Patrick Zaki will return to Italy and I wish him a life of serenity and success,” she said on Wednesday while also thanking the Egyptian president for the pardon.

Of late, the North African nation has witnessed several prisoners being pardoned after it came under the scanner for human rights violations when it played host to the UN climate summit last November. According to rights organizations, thousands of political prisoners are still languishing behind bars in the country awaiting trial.