Egyptians mourn Giulio Regeni outside Italian embassy in Cairo

Mourners gathered outside the Italian embassy in Cairo on Saturday to honour the memory of Giulio Regeni, an Italian student who was found dead after disappearing for more than a week in the Egyptian capital.

The mourners placed flowers at the embassy's entrance, lighting candles and carrying signs in Arabic and Italian.

"Giulio was one of us, and this is why he was killed like us," one of the signs read.

Prominent labour rights activist Hoda Kamel said that the Egyptian authorities must announce the results of their investigation into Regeni's mysterious death when enquiries are concluded.

The mourners also called on the authorities to hold accountable anyone involved in the death of the Italian student, whose corpse was repatriated to Italy earlier on Saturday.

The 28-year-old PhD student, who was in Cairo researching for his doctoral thesis on trade unions in Egypt, went missing on the fifth anniversary of the 25 January revolution that toppled former Egyptian President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak.

He was last seen when he left his home with the intention of travelling by metro to meet a friend in the city centre.

On Wednesday, Regeni's half-naked body was found in a roadside ditch on the outskirts of Cairo, bearing wounds and burn marks that indicated he might have been tortured.