Cairo: The body of a missing Italian student was found with signs of torture, including multiple stab wounds and cigarette burns, by the side of a highway on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital, an investigating prosecutor said on Thursday.
Giulio Regeni, A 28-year-old graduate student, went missing in Cairo on January 25, the fifth anniversary of the uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
His body was found Wednesday along the Cairo-Alexandria Road in the 6 October suburb in western Cairo and was positively identified by his roommate, said the prosecutor, Ahmad Nagi, who leads the investigation team on the case.
Nagi said the cause of death was still under investigation but said “all of his body, including his face” had bruises, cuts from stabbings and burns from cigarettes. He said it appeared to have been a “slow death.”
Another person with knowledge of the case told said that the body was “partially burned” and also said his body was found on the same highway. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to media. An employee at Cairo’s central morgue confirmed that Regeni’s body was brought there.
Italy’s Foreign Ministry said it has urgently summoned the Egyptian ambassador over the death of an Italian student on the outskirts of Cairo, seeking maximum cooperation in the investigation.
The ministry said in a statement on Thursday that Italy renewed its request to launch an immediate investigation and include Italian experts. The statement also requested that the body be returned to Italy as soon as possible.
The deputy head of criminal investigations in Cairo’s twin province of Giza, Alaa Azmi, said Regeni’s body found on Wednesday morning with “bruises and cuts.”
An initial investigation showed it was a road accident, he said, adding that the preliminary forensic report hadn’t mentioned any burns.
