Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi assured a delegation of Italian lawmakers on Tuesday that his government was committed to bringing to justice those responsible for the murder of an Italian student in Cairo last year.
Giulio Regeni was found murdered in Cairo in February 2016 after the head of a Cairo street vendors’ union reported him to police a few weeks before his death.
The 28-year-old, who was conducting postgraduate research into Egyptian trade unions, was last seen by friends on Jan. 25, 2016. His body, showing signs of extensive torture, was found in a roadside ditch outside Cairo on Feb. 3.
Egyptian officials have denied any involvement in Regeni’s death. Security and intelligence sources told Reuters in April that he had been arrested in Cairo on Jan. 25, and taken into custody.
“President Sisi stressed the need to continue close cooperation between investigators in the two countries,” his office said in a statement.
“The president reiterated Egypt’s full commitment to working on disclosing the circumstances surrounding the incident so as to determine the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”
Egypt’s top prosecutor gave the green light in January to experts from Italy and a German company that specializes in salvaging closed-circuit TV footage to examine cameras in Cairo as part of the investigation into Regeni’s death.
Italy has complained that the investigation is taking too long, and withdrawn its ambassador to Cairo.
Egypt has said its police carried out checks on Regeni’s activities following concerns raised by the union chief, but found nothing of interest.
Human rights groups have said torture marks indicated Regeni died at the hands of the security forces, an allegation Cairo denies.
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