Italian Citizenship Attribution to Patrick Zaki

Abstract

In July 2021, the Italian Chamber of Deputies passed a motion concerning certain actions to be taken in favor of Mr Zaki, an Egyptian activist and a student at the University of Bologna, who – until December 2021 – was arbitrarily detained in inhuman conditions in Egypt. Notably, the motion urged the Government to take all the necessary measures to naturalize the activist. Against this background, the present comment aims at analyzing the consequences of a possible attribution of citizenship, assessing its feasibility under international law as well as what Italy could do to uphold Mr Zaki’s human rights.