Amnesty International demands truth about slain Italian student in Egypt

Sunday 01-05-2016 04:38 PM

Italian student Giulio Regeni - Facebook Photo

CAIRO, May 1 (Aswat Masriya) -  Amnesty International's supporters in the U.K. and Italy are set to hold rallies on Sunday to demand that Egyptian authorities disclose the truth behind Italian student Giulio Regeni's death.

The rallies coincide with Labour Day, which is celebrated globally on the first of May of each year.

The Italian PH.D. student, who was in Egypt conducting research into the labour movement, went missing in Cairo on Jan. 25, 2016, which marked the fifth anniversary of the popular uprising that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

His body was found ten days later, bearing signs of torture, in a roadside ditch on the outskirts of Cairo.

The participants in the rally will raise banners reading "Truth for Giulio", Amnesty said in a statement last week.

Amnesty International's U.K. Trade Union Coordinator Shane Enright described what happened to Regini in Egypt as "incredibly chilling".

"It is important that "trade unionists around the world come out to express their support and solidarity with Giulio’s family and friends," he was quoted in the Amnesty statement as saying.

Enright criticized the position of the United Kingdom towards the issue of Regini, saying that "There’s a widespread feeling that the UK hasn’t made enough of a fuss over this shocking matter."

Regeni's death has sparked anger locally and internationally with Italy pressuring Egypt to disclose the circumstances around his death, threatening that otherwise it will consider taking measures against the Middle Eastern country.

On April 9, the Italian foreign ministry recalled its Egypt ambassador, Maurizio Massari, to Rome for consultations following a meeting held in the Italian capital between Egyptian and Italian investigators and officials where the Egyptian delegation was expected to present the findings of its investigation into Regeni's murder.

 

The incident has put Egypt's internal policies under scrutiny as international media outlets accused Egypt's interior ministry of being behind the torture and killing of Regeni.

The interior ministry have repeatedly denied the accusations and said in a statement last March that it killed four gang members who might have been behind Regeni's death, adding that the Italian student's belongings were found in the apartment of a relative of a member of a gang.  

The ministry accused the four suspects it killed of impersonating policemen.

Italy refused to believe that criminal motives were behind Regeni's death and demanded further investigation into the case which Egypt agreed to do.

 

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