Egyptian Christian human rights defender Patrick George Zaki was pardoned by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on 19 July, a day after being sentenced to three years in prison by an Emergency State Security Court in Al Mansoura Governorate.

Mr Zaki, a researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), was charged with ‘spreading fake news inside and outside Egypt’ and previously spent 22 months in pre-trial detention from February 2020 to December 2021.

Sentences handed down by Emergency Courts are final and not contestable by appeal or any other legal procedure. However, they require ratification from the president, who has the authority to either approve them, or to pardon the person sentenced.

In addition to pardoning Mr Zaki, President Sisi also pardoned lawyer Mohammad Al Baqer, who represented the British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah. Mr Baqer was arrested in September 2019 while attending the interrogation of Mr Fattah. Both men were later charged with ‘spreading fake news and undermining national security’, and in September 2021, an Emergency State Security Court found them guilty and sentenced Mr Baqer and Mr Fattah to four and five years respectively.

CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: ‘CSW welcomes the news that Mr Zaki and Mr Baqer have been pardoned. We call upon the Egyptian authorities to act on President Sisi’s personal commitment to improve human rights and promote equal citizenship in Egypt. We also continue to call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those detained on similarly excessive charges in relation to the exercise of their right to freedom of expression.’