Four days after the pardon and after the controversy over the refusal of the state flight Patrick Zaki he returned to Italy. Sunday morning he boarded the flight from Cairo airport Egyptair MS705 direct to Milan Malpensa: take off at 2.14 pm in Egypt (1.14 pm in Italy), arrival at 4.50 pm in Italy.
“It is the most important journey of my life”, he said as soon as he landed in the Lombard airport to then embark on the journey to the University of Bologna. Waiting for him at Malpensa, embracing him tightly, the rector John Molari and the teacher, her mentor, Rita Monticelli who brought him back to the city that for over three years hoped for him at a distance, finally free.
“I’m finally here, it’s a dream come true after all these years. There are no words that can describe how I feel”, he told the rectorate, immediately after receiving the degree parchment and a wish from the rector: “A free and independent life, without being pulled by the jacket. It’s nice to have him here, the University is a place of freedom and pluralism”. In the crowded press conference Zaki actually found the words: she recalled the support she enjoyed from the city she calls “my second home: I have seen this support in three years and it has also been seen in Cairo”. Zaki then thanked the Italian and Egyptian authorities, NGOs and civil society, as well as the heads of the Italian state. Zaki also recalled another important lawsuit involving Italy and Egypt, that of Giulio Regeni, a story that is still awaiting justice. “Mine was a success story, but in Egypt there are still hundreds of people in prison, we ask for their release. They deserve a presidential pardon like me,” he said again.
The day had already begun with words of thanks. Perhaps also to cool the controversy surrounding the state flight, rejected by the student. “Thanks to the Italian government for what he has done in the last few days, I really appreciate everything they have done. I’m really excited to be here”, he said at the airport, also quoting the Italian Ambassador in Cairo, Michael Quaroniand the councilor Marco Cardoni.
Also Riccardo Noury, spokesperson for Amnesty International Italy, underlined how Patrick has “several times thanked and expressed appreciation for the efforts made at every level, including Italian institutions, for this day to arrive. Now – said Noury, who also arrived in Bologna to welcome the 32-year-old – it’s time for us to thank him: for resisting prison, for urging us to act every day, for never forgetting the other Egyptian prisoners of conscience, for making possible the biggest campaign for a prisoner of conscience of the 21st century”.
In the last three and a half years, a lot has changed in Zaki’s life, made up of prison, hearings, endless postponements. Then a release, a trial and, again, a surprise conviction and a pardon. Finally the release. Zaki, Egyptian by birth but Bolognese by adoption, is convinced that he also wants to continue his life in Bologna, where he graduated, of which he is an honorary citizen and where next Sunday, July 30, he will be celebrated in Piazza Maggiore. “I want to resume my university career and as a human rights defender. I will go to Cairo for a few days, but then I will go back to Bologna,” she said. Before heading towards the city center, the Two Towers and Piazza Maggiore.