Egyptian researcher Patrick Zaki and lawyer Mohamed Al Baqer were freed from detention on Thursday, a day after their pardon by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi in cases that placed new attention on the country's human rights record.
Mr Zaki had served 22 months in pre-trial detention before being sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday – for spreading false news in an article he wrote about the plight of Egypt's Christians – and then pardoned a day later.
He told Reuters he planned to travel to Bologna in Italy on Saturday, where he had been studying before he was arrested during a trip home in 2020.
“I'm really excited, super excited, to be back to Bologna,” Mr Zaki said. “After this moment of announcing the final verdict it was really hard, I was thinking that I will go through the nightmare again.”
He said he hoped the pardon from Mr Al Sisi could lead to the release of other detainees and the repeal of travel bans imposed on activists, among them several current and former colleagues of his at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent research group.
“I hope that it will be a sign that we will see more releases for all the prisoners of conscience,” he said.
Since late 2021, Egypt has taken steps it says are aimed at addressing human rights, including amnesties for some prominent prisoners, but critics have dismissed the moves as superficial and say arrests have continued.
Mr Al Baqer was arrested in 2019 while attending the interrogation of a client, Alaa Abdel Fattah, Egypt's most prominent activist. He returned home on Thursday, his birthday, according to social media posts by his family and lawyers.
Mr Abdel Fattah, who was swept up with many others in a decade-long crackdown on dissent, remains in prison.
Mr Zaki's case was closely followed in Italy, coming four years after the disappearance, torture and killing in Egypt of Italian student Giulio Regeni.
Four Egyptian security officials have been charged in Italy over Mr Regeni's murder, although Egyptian officials have repeatedly denied involvement.
After picking up his diploma in Bologna, Mr Zaki said he plans to return to Egypt to prepare for his wedding in September. “Then I will start my career again as a human rights defender,” he said.
