Egyptian researcher Patrick Zaki in his family home in Cairo, December 9, 2021. (Credit: AFP)
An Egyptian court on Tuesday sentenced rights researcher Patrick Zaki to three years' prison for "spreading false news," according to human rights defender Hossam Bahgat.
Bahgat, who runs the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights where Zaki worked, said no appeal is possible against the conviction over an article Zaki wrote on discrimination against Coptic Christians.
Zaki previously spent 22 months in pre-trial detention until December 2021, and was again taken into custody Tuesday after the court ruling in Mansoura, 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of Cairo.
The drawn-out case triggered international condemnation, particularly in Italy where he had been studying at Bologna University when he was arrested in 2020 under charges of "spreading false news," "harming national security" and "incitement to overthrow the state," among others.
His 2020 article recounted the discrimination faced by the country's Coptic Christian minority, who number some 10-15 percent of Egypt's 105 million people.
Bahgat, who runs the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights where Zaki worked, said no appeal is possible against the conviction over an article Zaki wrote on discrimination...