Patrick Zaki saw his father for the first time in more than six months and congratulated his fellow Masters who are about to graduate in Italy. The curators of the ‘Patrick Libero’ page dedicated to the Egyptian student of the University of Bologna, who has been held in a prison in Cairo for more than a year on charges of spreading false news and threatening national security, wrote on Facebook.
“Patrick’s parents visited him this morning in his detention facility,” reads a post published today. His father surprised him by visiting him for the first time in more than six months, his father has “health problems, which make it extremely difficult for him to bear the visit both physically and mentally”. Activists monitoring Zaki’s condition in Egypt describe the meeting as “very hard on an emotional level for all of them, especially since Patrick was able to see how much his father’s health has deteriorated since the last time he saw him”. However, the Egyptian student’s thoughts also went to Italy and to his classmates who are about to finish their studies in these days. “He wanted to congratulate his GEMMA Masters class who is about to graduate in a month. Patrick knows all the course dates and deadlines by heart: we can only imagine how difficult it is for him to know that he should graduate now with his classmates instead of being in jail. Yet, as always, Patrick still finds in his heart the strength to be happy for his friends and to wish them the best », we read again. Finally, the Facebook page recalls how «his course of study lasts for two years» but Patrick «attended only one semester. He spent the rest in prison and who knows when he will be able to continue his studies ».