Italian prosecutor arrives in Cairo, Egypt hands over full case file on Regeni murder

Rome’s chief prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone arrived in Cairo on Monday to meet with Egypt’s Prosecutor General Nabil Sadek in an unprecedented sign of bilateral cooperation in the ongoing investigations into Giulio Regeni’s murder.

Regeni’s body was found in the outskirts of Cairo on February 3 bearing signs of brutal torture. Despite harshly worded allegations from Italian officials and media outlets that Egyptian security forces could be implicated in the 28-year-old doctoral student’s death, the Interior Ministry has steadfastly denied any involvement of security personnel in his abduction and murder.

Egyptian Ambassador to Italy Amr Helmy invited Pignatone to Egypt so that he could review the latest developments in the case, according to the state-owned newspaper Al-Ahram. The visit comes days after the European Parliament issued a resolution recommending the suspension of military aid to Egypt in response to Regeni’s “abduction, savage torture and killing.”

Earlier media reports suggested that Egypt was withholding information from the Italian authorities. However, both Egyptian and Italian investigators collaborated on a full security report to present to Pignatone’s team on Monday, including a review of the calls and emails Regeni received prior to his death, according to the privately owned Al-Shorouk newspaper.

Hours after the Italian prosecutor arrived in Cairo, the South Giza Prosecution investigations team reportedly handed him the full case file, including the forensic report, eyewitness statements and Regeni’s phone records, said the privately owned Al-Wafd newspaper.

Regeni’s case has consistently been in the headlines of local newspapers over the past two weeks, with a recent focus on an alleged encounter between Regeni and another Italian citizen outside of the Italian Consulate in Cairo 24 hours before he went missing on January 25.

The South Giza Prosecution allegedly heard the testimony of an engineer identified as Mohamed Fawzy who claims he saw Regeni arguing with a “foreigner” behind the consulate for around 15 minutes on January 24, reported the privately owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm on Monday. Al-Shorouk said Interior Ministry officials have identified the person with whom Regeni allegedly fought, and have called on airport authorities to identify whether or not the person has left the country.

Other newspapers have veered away from the Regeni case to report on an Egyptian citizen who allegedly went missing in Italy five months ago. The privately owned Youm7 newspaper wrote on Monday that while Italian newspapers have attacked Egypt for Regeni’s murder, they have not been directing similar criticisms to the Italian police for failing to provide information on Adel Mowad, who “disappeared under mysterious circumstances.”