On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned detained rights researcher Patrick Zaki, one day after a court sentenced him to three years in prison for "spreading false news," according to lawyers and state media. 

Sisi's decision followed outcry over Zaki's sentence by Italian government and the US State Department, along with local and international human rights groups. 

The Egyptian president on Wednesday also pardoned Mohamed El-Baqer, a lawyer for detained activist Alaa Abdel Fattah who was arrested in 2019 at his client's interrogation.

What was Zaki accused of?

Zaki was accused of spreading "false news" in a 2020 article about discrimination faced by Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, who number some 10-15% of Egypt's population of 105 million people. He was arrested during a visit to Egypt in February 2020 when he was a graduate student at the University of Bologna in Italy.

He served 22 months in pre-trial detention before being released pending the completion of his trial at a state security court in his hometown of Mansoura, 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Cairo.

In an interview with DW in 2022, Zaki said the prosecutor disagreed with his article. "He said that there is no discrimination of the Christian minority, that we have equal rights and he closed his argument by asking the judge to give me the maximum penalty without mercy," Zaki said.

The drawn-out case triggered international condemnation, particularly in Italy where he had been studying at Bologna University when he was arrested in 2020.

The charges included not only "spreading false news," but also "harming national security" and "incitement to overthrow the state," among others.

Strained relations with Italy

Amnesty International's Italian branch had called Zaki's conviction "a scandalous verdict."  According to rights defenders, Zaki was beaten and tortured with electricity during his detention.

Thousands signed petitions in Italy calling for Zaki's release, and the country's Senate voted to grant him Italian citizenship in 2021.

Relations between Cairo and Rome had previously been strained by the 2016 killing of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni in Egypt, sparking concerns about academic freedom in the country.

Egypt ranks at the bottom of the Academic Freedom Index, with researchers frequently detained and harassed for their work.

dh/wmr (AFP, Reuters)