He asked for the support of the Italian people for Ilaria Salis and on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict he contested the accusations made against him of being a terrorist and of supporting Hamas. This, in summary, is the speech at the Kore of Enna by Patrick Zaki, the researcher from the University of Bologna who remained in prison in Egypt since 2020 and was later pardoned, who took part in the conference entitled Dreams and illusions of freedom.
“Palestinian genocide”
“The Palestinians have been experiencing genocide for years. Netanyahu continues to refuse the ceasefire and Europe has a clear responsibility for this. He also recalled how the protest of Italian students in support of Palestine was also repressed with violence” said Zaki.
Assostampa document signed
Zaki signed the document of Assostampa, the journalists’ union, against the gag and said he supported the battle of Rai journalists.
Salerno on Karam
There was also Remon Karam, the elected representative of the university’s students, an Egyptian, who left Cairo at just 14 years old, escaping on a boat at the risk of his life to reach Sicily, where he landed after seven days of navigation. The president of Kore, Cataldo Salerno, made an appeal to the President of the Republic to grant Italian citizenship to Karam who obtained not only his high school diploma in Sicily but also two degrees from Kore si enna and for all the merits linked to his battle for human rights and integration.
Chris’s story
There was also the testimony of the Nigerian singer-songwriter Chris Obehi, who also fled his country, Nigeria, as a minor, and arrived in Lampedusa after a five-month journey through the desert, Libyan prisons and sailing in the Mediterranean on a barge. In Nigeria he played piano and bass and performed gospel music in church
Journalists
With the coordination of Elvira Terranova, head of the Sicilian editorial staff of Adnkronos, there were interventions by the presidents of the Order of Journalists of Sicily Roberto Gueli, of the Sicilian press association Tiziana Tavella, of the National Order of Journalists Carlo Bartoli and of the general secretary of the National Press Federation Alessandra Costante. Also speaking was the president of the “Occhiblu” association Filippo Mulè, who since 2016 has organized the Cristiana Matano international journalism prize in Lampedusa, of which Kore University is a partner as well as Fnsi and Assostampa Sicilia.
