In a major development that is currently raising eyebrows, an Italian parliamentary panel has accused the Egyptian security apparatus of kidnapping, torturing and murdering a student, Giulio Regeni, in Cairo in 2016.
It would be recalled that Regeni, a postgraduate student at Britain’s Cambridge University, disappeared in the Egyptian capital in January 2016. His body was found almost a week later and a post-mortem examination showed he had been tortured before his death.
The final report of the cross-party parliamentary committee said “Responsibility for the kidnapping, torture and killing of Giulio Regeni rests directly on the security apparatus of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and in particular on officials of the National Security Agency (NSA), as minutely reconstructed by the investigations carried out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome”.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian police and officials have repeatedly denied any involvement in Regeni’s disappearance and killing.
Reports have it that the four suspects, who face trial in absentia in an Italian court, have never responded publicly to the accusations.
It was gathered that Italy began the trial against four senior members of Egypt’s security services over their suspected role in the case, but proceedings were suspended in October because of concerns the men might not know they had been charged.
In view of the decision, the case will now return to a preliminary court which must decide whether to make a new effort to locate the four officials and hand them their writs.
Local reports said a new preliminary hearing in the case before a judge in Rome is scheduled for January.
More so, Italian prosecutors have accused Egypt of refusing to reveal the men’s whereabouts and of undermining their investigation.
The parliamentary panel’s report said “The halt in the [trial] proceedings is purely procedural and in no way prejudices the conclusions reached by the prosecutors, which this panel fully shares”.
In their report, the Italian prosecutors averred that Major Magdi Sharif, from Egypt’s General Intelligence, Major General Tarek Sabir, the former head of state security, police officer Colonel Hisham Helmy and Colonel Ather Kamal, a former head of investigations in Cairo, were responsible for the “aggravated kidnapping” of Regeni.
The panel said “It is time to remind Egypt of its responsibilities as a state, which are very clear and significant regarding the fate of Giulio Regeni and go beyond the penally significant responsibilities of its agents”.
Expectedly, the killing has soured diplomatic relations between Rome and Cairo, but did not prevent Italy last year from approving a $1.2bn sale of two warships to Egypt, drawing sharp rebukes from Regeni’s family.
