Egyptian authorities released human rights researcher Patrick George Zaki and human rights lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer on Thursday, one day after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi granted pardons to both men.

These pardons came after Zaki’s conviction on charges of disseminating false information, which resulted in a three-year prison sentence. The charges were related to an article he authored in 2019, titled “Displacement, Killing, and Restrictions: A Week in the Diaries of Egypt’s Copts,” where he shared his experiences as a Coptic Egyptian and offered his perspectives on current events affecting the religious minority, constituting approximately 10% of the Egyptian population. Zaki was arrested at Cairo International Airport in 2019 upon his return from Italy and subsequently spent 22 months in pre-trial detention.

Alongside Zaki, Mohamed el-Baqer, co-founder of the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms and a prominent lawyer known for representing British-Egyptian pro-democracy activist and political prisoner Alaa Abd el-Fattah, also received a presidential pardon. El-Baqer had been arrested in 2019 and had been serving a four-year sentence since 2021, facing charges of spreading false news, misusing social media and being affiliated with a “terrorist” group.

In a video message, Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, expressed her optimism that Zaki would be returning to Italy on Thursday. She conveyed her heartfelt well-wishes for “a life of serenity and success” to him and expressed gratitude to President Sisi “for this very important act.”