Several Italian media outlets praised yesterday a fiat by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to pardon Egyptian researcher, Patrick Zaki, and release him from prison. Soon after his release, Zaki, a researcher at the University of Bologna, travelled to Italy.
Egyptian Ambassador to Italy, Bassam Radi, told the Italian online newspaper, Nova Agency, that the presidential pardon granted Zaki derives from what he described as “personal appreciation by President Sisi of deep and
strong relations with Italy”.
“The speed with which the pardon was granted is the best proof of this, especially as it occurred less than 24 hours after the final judicial sentence was issued [against the researcher],” the newspaper quoted Ambassador Radi as saying.
He added that Egypt is a country that respects the law and its constitution.
“The Egyptian state respects verdicts issued by the courts because it has respect for the rule of law,” the Egyptian ambassador said.
He noted that the Egyptian constitution gives the president the right to pardon people after courts issue verdicts against them.
“President Sisi pardoned Zaki to support relations with Italy,” Ambassador Radi said.
He noted that the two Mediterranean nations are united by the two greatest civilisations known to humanity and the world.
An Egyptian court sentenced Zaki to three years in prison on July 18 for “disseminating false news inside and outside Egypt”.
The same sentence was also based on an article Zaki wrote in 2019 about alleged discrimination against Egypt’s
Christian citizens.
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