He was arrested on February 7, 2020 from Cairo Airport, after returning from Italy. He was hidden for 24 hours, then appeared in the Mansoura Prosecution in case No. 7245 of 2020 on charges of spreading false news, inciting demonstrations and overthrowing the regime. He was referred in September 2021 to trial after spending about a year and a half in pretrial detention. Patrick is being tried on the basis of an opinion article he published about two years ago, criticizing the displacement, killing and harassment of Egypt's Copts. Earlier, the University of Bologna in Italy, Amnesty International, the Italian Foreign Ministry and the European Parliament had called for Patrick's immediate release, and in December 2021 he was released and his trial continued.