Egypt jails rights researcher for 3 years: NGO
Cairo, Egypt (AFP):
An Egyptian court has sentenced rights researcher Patrick Zaki to three years in prison for “spreading false news”, according to human rights defender Hossam Bahgat.
Bahgat, who runs the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights where Zaki worked, said no appeal is possible against the conviction over an article Zaki wrote on discrimination against Coptic Christians.
The drawn-out case triggered international condemnation, particularly in Italy where he had been studying at Bologna University when he was arrested in 2020 under charges of “spreading false news”, “harming national security” and “incitement to overthrow the state”, among others.
His 2020 article had recounted the discrimination faced by the country’s Coptic Christian minority, who number some 10-15 percent of Egypt’s 105 million people.
Egypt continues to be ruled by a hardline military regime under General Abd el Fattah el Sisis who assumed power through a brutal military coup that crushed popularly elected erstwhile prime minister Mohammed Morsi. Under the military regime, personal freedoms and liberties, particularly freedom of speech, continue to be severely restricted.
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