Italy is demanding to take part in investigations by Egypt into the death of an Italian student whose corpse was found by the side of Cairo-Alexandria Road on Wednesday.
“In addition to requesting full disclosure regarding this case…Italy reiterated its call for the Egyptian authorities to immediately launch a joint investigation with the involvement of Italian experts,” Italy’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement by its secretary general, Michele Valensise, commenting on the mysterious death of Cambridge student Giulio Regeni.
“Italy expects full cooperation from the Egyptian authorities at all levels in view of the exceptional gravity of what happened to the Italian student and of the traditionally close and friendly relations between the two countries,” read the statement, released shortly after summoning the Egyptian ambassador over the incident.
News websites were reporting that Regeni left his residence in an upper class Cairo suburb to meet a friend in the downtown area on January 25, but his friend said he failed to show up.
A series of security searches and arrests were reported in downtown prior to and on January 25, which marked the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising, preempting possible protests by opposition activists.
Signs of torture and cigarette burns were found on Regeni’s dead body, Ahmed Nagy, a senior prosecutor in Giza Province, told Reuters, adding that there were also signs of beatings and cuts to the ears, with the body half-naked and identified by a friend.
Nagy's comments, however, clash with those made by Khaled Shalabi, chief of Giza investigations, who told Youm7 news website Regeni's death was merely "a traffic accident," citing initial investigations which ruled out a criminal culpability.
