Egyptians tenuously compare London arson victim with Regeni murder

A young Egyptian tragically lost his life this week in a suspected arson attack in London, sparking a wave of anger in Egypt and questionable comparisons to the killing of an Italian student, who was tortured and murdered in Cairo earlier this year.

Social media users in Egypt have been quick to draw parallels between the killing of Sherif Adel Habib in Southall and Giulio Regeni, whose badly mutilated body was found on the side of the road in February.

There is, however, a major difference between the two tragic deaths.

British police have arrested a man in his 20s on "suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life".

The Egyptian police, despite their claims of innocence, remain the primary suspects in Regeni's torture-murder.

Last week, reports emerged that Regeni was picked up by plainclothes police officers on the day he went missing and was handed over to Homeland Security.

On Monday - the day Habib's garage was set ablaze – the Foreign Office in London issued a statement urging Egyptian authorities to consider the possible scenario that Regeni was killed by security services.

"Three months after Mr Regeni's death, we are disappointed by the limited progress made in the case and are concerned that Italy has not found the cooperation that Egypt has provided to them to be sufficient," it said.

Social media users in Egypt have used the Arabic-language hashtag #WeWantJucticeForAdelHabib and the grammatically ambiguous #ENGLAND_NOT_SAFETY to demand that British authorities solve the case, while comparing the suspected murder with Regeni's.

Translation: "Are Egyptian journalists going to stand by the Egyptian Adel Habib who was killed in London like they stood by Regeni?"

Translation: "British intelligence knew that the plane explosion [in Sinai] was an act of terrorism half an hour after it happened and they still don't know who killed Adel Habib."

Translation: "The BBC which writes a story every ten minutes about Regeni and it won't mention Adel who was burned alive in London? Why isn't the damn BCC saying anything?"

Translation: "Britain is not safe for visitors. How many Egyptian expats have been victimised and the perpetrators not been found?"

Translation: "We are going to speak in the same way Britain has spoken about the Regeni case. Egyptians are not worth less than British citizens who they have protected."

Other social media users also voiced their concerns about the security situation in the UK.

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