Since last night “I am facing a huge cyber attack on my e-mail and social media accounts”: Patrick Zaki wrote it this morning on Twitter, merely adding “what a good start !!” with implicit reference to today’s hearing in his trial.
Today, in fact, the fifth hearing of the ongoing trial in Mansura, on the Nile delta, is scheduled, where he must answer for the accusation of spreading false news against Egypt where a new update is expected.
The chief lawyer of the Egyptian student at the University of Bologna, Hoda Nasrallah, has admittedly stopped making predictions. However, Egyptian judicial sources have predicted that today’s hearing will also end without a sentence and only with a “long” update. The last one arranged on February 1st had been over two months.
The human and civil rights activist is on the loose after being released from prison on 8 December and having reached the end of 22 months of pre-trial detention, but he cannot return to Italy. Patrick lives with the risk of another five years in prison for having written an article on some cases of discrimination against Egyptian Christians which would constitute the crime of “spreading false news” in the years of Egypt.
The appointment for the lawyers is at nine local and Italian time at the new wing of the old Palace of Justice in Mansura, in front of the State Security Court for minor (or emergency) crimes in Patrick’s hometown. Given that Ramadan began on Saturday, the Islamic holy month of day fasting and prayer in which activities slow down and office hours are shortened, it is foreseeable that the outcome of the audience will be announced already in the morning.