Italy criticises Egypt for lack of progress in Regeni case

A senior Italian official on Monday urged Egypt to resolve the 2016 killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni, objecting to what he said was a lack of progress in the case.

Speaking to Italy's state television in Cairo after meeting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Roberto Fico, president of Italy's Chamber of Deputies, said the Egyptian leader assured him that Giulio Regeni's case was a "priority" for Egypt    

In response, Fico said facts, not words, is what counted and demanded that the case be more rigorously investigated and the culprits soon put on trial, according to the channel's report.

The Egyptian investigation, Fico said, was at a "stalling point".

Regeni, a graduate Cambridge University student who researched trade unions in Egypt, was 28 when he disappeared in Cairo on 25 January, 2016 - the fifth anniversary of Egypt's popular uprising when thousands of police deployed across Cairo to pre-empt any attempt to mark the occasion.

His body was found several days later by the side of a highway near Cairo with torture marks. Activists and rights groups say the marks resembled the results of widespread torture practices in Egyptian detention facilities.

Egypt has recently acknowledged that Regeni was being watched by police while in Cairo because of the nature of his research.

Fico on Monday said nine people "had moved around Giulio Regeni, a network that tailed him, followed him" and then "abducted him, tortured him and killed him", according to the Italian state TV report.

The case roiled Cairo's relations with Rome, with Regeni's family and Italian media accusing Egyptian security forces of torturing and killing him.

They have denied any involvement and since 2016 have suggested several alternative scenarios for his death, including being hit by a car or victimised by a criminal gang that specialises in robbing foreigners.

Italy withdrew its ambassador in April 2016, saying Egypt was not cooperating in an Italian investigation, without providing additional details. An ambassador returned last September.

In the comments carried by the Italian state TV, Fico said Regeni was tortured for seven days, and that the torture was not the work of ordinary citizens. Evidence, he explained, indicated that "sophisticated" torture methods were used.

Fico's visit to Egypt is the latest by a top-level Italian official since a right-wing government took office in Italy following elections in March.

Fico is a member of the populist 5-Star Movement, the main coalition partner of the anti-migrant League party. Before Fico, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi came to Egypt and met with Sisi.

Egypt and Italy are bound by close and mutually beneficial economic and commercial links, including the development of a vast natural gas field off Egypt's Mediterranean shores that Cairo is hoping will fulfil its ambition to become a regional energy hub.