An Egyptian judicial delegation visiting Rome has handed over a 2,000-page dossier on the murder of Italian PhD student in Cairo Guilio Regeni, including interviews with 200 witnesses with alleged connections to the victim.
Egyptian officials hoped the visit, which started on Wednesday, would help silence claims that Egypt has not cooperated fully with Italian investigators in seeking to discover the truth about the muder of Regeni.
However, on Friday, Italian news agency ANSA quoted an unnamed Italian judicial source as saying the dossier was "still incomplete".
According to recent Italian media reports, Italian investigators have been waiting for data on telephone calls conducted by Regeni, as well as the tapes of surveillance cameras from a metro station and the shops in the neighborhood where he lived.
It is not yet clear exactly what information is said to be missing from the newly delivered dossier.
The Egyptian delegation, led by Assistant Attorney Mostafa Suleiman, met with the Italian officials, led by Rome's chief prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone, on Thursday at 10 am.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi stressed on Wednesday that his country demands the truth regarding Regini's death, adding in a video clip that was circulated on Facebook: "We owe Guilio, his friends, his mother, his father, and little sister, and we hope Egypt will cooperate with our investigators."
A report sent by the Egyptian police at the beginning of March omitted two of a total five items Rome asked to be investigated, namely the data on Regeni's mobile phone and videos from the underground metro station where he disappeared, Italian news agency ANSA quoted Italy's Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni as saying.
"We will not stop seeking the discovery of the truth," Gentiloni added.
"We want to see whether the crucial reactions of Italy were able to re-open a new channel of communication for an integrated cooperation by the Egyptian side or not," he said.
According to the BBC, there is a feeling among the Italian public that the Egyptian authorities are not moving fast enough in their efforts to find the killers of Regeni.
Meanwhile, Britain's Daily Mail newspaper reported that the aim of the Egyptian delegation's visit is to reassure Italy that Egypt is doing its best to find the culprits.
Pignatone, his deputy, the two senior police officials attended the meeting on Thursday, said Italian state TV.
Egypt sent Deputy Chief Prosecutor Mostafa Suleiman, International Cooperation Prosecutor Mohamed Hamdi al-Sayed, National Security General Adel Gaafar and two high-ranking police officials, named as Alal Abdel Megid and Mostafa Meabed, ANSA reported.
According to ANSA, the Italian side is examining the dossier submitted by the Egyptian officials during the meeting, with another meeting due for Friday morning.
An article by The New York Times claims that slow action on the part of the Egyptian authorities has obstructed cooperation between the two countries, leading to claims that Egypt was seeking to hide the truth.
Although President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has denied allegations of police involvement in the death of Regeni, the Egyptian government has launched a crackdown recently against journalists, human rights activists, and groups that record police violations and forced disappearances, the US newspaper added.
News reports quoted the statements of a policy fellow for the European Council on Foreign Relations as saying that Italy could possibly recall its ambassador and issue a travel warning against Egypt or further seek a unified position against Egypt by European partners.
AFP said a travel warning against Egypt is not expected to have a great impact, because Regeni's case and fears of terrorist attacks already prevent Italians from visiting Egypt, especially after the Italian Metidiana airline decreased the number of weekly flights to Egypt from 44 to three.
While Italy may wish to apply pressure to Egypt further, it is limited by the need to cooperate with Egypt on achieving stability in neighboring Libya, and because Italian energy company Eni is in the process of starting exploitation of Egypt's newly discovered Zohr gas field.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
