Italy: city council demands Egypt extradite citizen sentenced for ‘drug trafficking’

The Italian city of Pescara demanded on Wednesday the extradition of a resident sentenced by an Egyptian court to 25 years imprisonment for drug possession and trafficking. Luigi Giacomo Passeri was arrested last year.

The Cairo Criminal Court convicted Passeri yesterday on charges of the possession and trafficking of narcotics and for participation in a drug dealing network which sells to the local market. However, his family claimed that he only had a small quantity of marijuana at the time of his arrest, intended for personal use only.

According to his family, Passeri has been tortured during his detention over the past year and suffered medical negligence after having an operation for appendicitis.

The city council of Pescara voted yesterday in favour of referring his case to the competent authorities while ensuring the utmost attention from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Embassy in Cairo. The mayor of Pescara confirmed during the voting session that he had contacted Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on 24 August regarding the case, who stressed that he was personally following up on the case, adding that “the situation is complicated”.

Pescara council adviser Michela Di Stefano said that it is difficult to accept such harsh sentences, especially given that it is difficult to prove the dynamics of the investigation remotely. Di Stefano added that she had demanded the extradition of the young Italian citizen so that he can stand trial in Italy to ensure humane treatment, regardless of the reason for his arrest. “Giacomo cannot be left in a country where there is no value for human beings,” she insisted.

After an Egyptian graduate student at Italy’s University of Bologna, Patrick George Zaki, was granted honorary citizenship while he was in prison in Cairo, the mayor and council vowed to continue to push for human rights and support Passeri’s case, added Di Stefano.

In the same context, Italian lawmaker, Marco Grimaldi called Passeri’s sentence shocking. “We are concerned, indignant and confused,” he explained. “We saw the [Giulio] Regeni case, the Zaki case, and we did not trust those who said that everything is fine in Egypt. What did the government do to prevent Luigi Giacomo Passeri from being subjected to a sham trial and detention that could risk the confiscation of his entire fortune? A young life?”

Grimaldi told parliament of his fears that Passeri would die in prison just as graduate student Giulio Regeni did. He was tortured to death in an Egyptian prison in 2016. “We do not want another Regeni case, and no agreement in the energy field can justify such laxity.”

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