Italian authorities are demanding a full investigation into the death of an Italian student whose body was found in Cairo bearing signs that he had been tortured.
The body of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old who was pursuing a PhD at Cambridge, was found in a ditch in the suburbs outside Cairo on Wednesday night, days after the Italian government announced it was growing increasingly concerned about his disappearance.
The Egyptian prosecutor leading the investigation team on the case said Regeni’s body had been found with stab wounds, cigarette burns, cuts to the ears and signs of beatings and “slow death”, while reports in the local media said he was found naked from the waist down. Although the body was found on Wednesday, it is believed that he may have been killed days earlier.
“The Italian government has asked the Egyptian authorities to make every effort to ascertain the truth … and immediately launch a joint investigation with the participation of Italian experts,” the Italian foreign ministry said late on Wednesday.
The ministry also summoned the Egyptian ambassador, Amr Mostafa Kamal Helmy, to express concern about Regeni’s death. “Helmy expressed profound condolences for Regeni’s death and assured us Egypt will cooperate fully in finding those responsible for this criminal act,” the ministry said.
The deputy head of criminal investigations in Cairo’s twin province of Giza, Alaa Azmi, had earlier said an initial investigation showed Regeni’s death was a road accident, adding that the preliminary forensic report hadn’t mentioned any burns.
“We have to wait for the full report by forensic experts. But what we know is that it is an accident,” Azmi said.
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