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Italy: Parents of murdered student call for envoy to be recalled from Egypt

July 3, 2020 at 3:09 pm

Candlelight procession for Italian student Giulio Regeni who was murdered in Egypt [Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu Agency]

The family of an Italian researcher who was tortured to death in Egypt in 2016 have called on their government to recall its ambassador from Cairo saying that this is the only way to move forward toward achieving justice for their son’s death and preserving the dignity of Italy and its leaders.

Guileo Regeni’s parents, Paola and Claudio Regeni, and their lawyer made the remarks after a video conference between Egyptian and Italian prosecutors failed to make progress regarding Rome’s request that Egypt hand over five Egyptian security officers accused of being involved in the former PhD student’s murder.

“It’s obvious that today’s virtual meeting with the Egyptian prosecutor’s office was a failure,” Regeni’s parents Paola and Claudio said in a statement released by their lawyer, according to AFP.

“The Egyptians have not provided a single response… despite 14 months having passed since the requests were made,” they added.

They considered it “offensive and provocative” that the Egyptians asked Italy to present more details on the slain Italian’s activities in Cairo.

Read: ‘Italy betrayed us’ says mother of Regeni over Egypt arms deal

Guileo was a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD candidate. While conducting research in Egypt on trade unions, he disappeared for nine days before his body was found dumped on the outskirts of Cairo bearing signs of extensive torture. Italy accuses the Egyptian security forces of torturing him to death.

Local and international rights groups have repeatedly pointed to “widespread and systematic torture” by Egyptian police and National Security officers. Severe torture techniques have been routinely used in Egyptian security agencies and have reportedly intensified under President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who rose to power after leading a 2013 military coup against the country’s first democratically-elected President, Mohamed Morsi.