Egypt president suggests his political enemies murdered Italian student

The Egyptian president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, has suggested that 28-year-old Italian research student Giulio Regeni may have been tortured and killed in Cairo by his political enemies seeking to destabilise the country at a sensitive time.

The remarks, to Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, were the first clear indication that public and political pressure in Italy and across Europe over Regeni’s brutal murder in Cairo earlier this year has put the Egyptian leader on the defensive.

Experts have said they believe the murder of the Cambridge PhD student, whose body was found in a ditch more than a week after he disappeared in January, bore all the hallmarks of Egypt’s notorious secret service and could have been motivated by his status as a foreigner or as an academic investigating labour unions.

In the La Repubblica interview, Sisi expressed his condolences to Regeni’s family – saying he understood their “pain, bitterness and shock” – and said specialised investigative working groups had been formed to “uncover the real causes behind the incident”.

“I reiterate once more our sincere keenness to intensify cooperation with Italian authorities to resolve any ambiguity related to this painful incident and bring their perpetrators to justice,” he said, according to a transcript of his remarks that were posted on the newspaper’s website in English. “In the upcoming days, the Egyptian team in charge of this case will head to Rome to discuss ways to enhance mutual coordination in this regard.”