An Egyptian court hands down 3-year prison sentence to rights activist in case that echoed in Italy

By SAMY MAGDY
Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court has sentenced a rights activist to three years in prison over an opinion article he wrote in 2019. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said the court on Tuesday convicted Patrick George Zaki of “disseminating false news” related to his article about alleged discrimination against Coptic Christians in Egypt. Amnesty International says was “dragged away” from the courtroom right after the verdict. He was arrested in February 2020 shortly after landing in Cairo on a short trip home from Italy where he was a postgraduate student at the University of Bologna. His case renewed global attention to Egypt’s intolerance to government critics. He was released in December 2021 but remained in Egypt pending trial.