Italy recalls ambassador from Egypt in protest over murdered student

It came after two days of talks between Egyptian and Italian investigators in Rome ended without a resolution of tensions between the two countries over the fate of 28-year-old Giulio Regeni.

The coffin of Giulio Regeni arrives at the church for his funeral service in Fiumicello, northern Italy, on February 12, 2016. Paolo Giovannini, File/AP Photo

ROME // Italy on Friday recalled its ambassador to Egypt for consultations in protest over the lack of progress in an investigation into the fate of murdered student Giulio Regeni.

The move came after two days of talks between Egyptian and Italian investigators in Rome ended without a resolution of tensions between the two countries over the fate of 28-year-old Regeni, whose tortured and mutilated body was discovered outside Cairo on February 3.

“Italy has undertaken a commitment with the Regeni family ... that we would stop only once we get the truth,” Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said.

Egypt’s foreign ministry said it had “not been officially notified” about the recall, adding that it “awaits the return of the investigative team to hear its evaluation of the meetings”.

It would then assess the situation and “there will be the necessary communications at the appropriate level”, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid was quoted as saying.

The Rome prosecutor in charge of the case said the Egyptians had handed over phone records of two of Regeni’s Italian friends who were in Cairo at the time of his disappearance, as well as photos taken on the day his body was discovered.

The statement made no mention of CCTV footage of the neighbourhood from which Regeni disappeared on January 25, which the Italians had asked to see, or whether Regeni was under surveillance prior to his abduction.

The Egyptian team indicated they were still considering the possibility Regeni was abducted by an anti-foreigner criminal gang whose members all died in a police shootout last month.

The Italian prosecutor stressed his “conviction that there are no elements to directly link the gang to the torture and death of Giulio Regeni”.

Egypt’s presentation of a theory that a criminal gang carried out the murder has been greeted with outraged scepticism in Italy and has helped fuel public anger over the case, putting intense pressure on Mr Renzi to be seen to be getting tough with Cairo.

Italian officials suspect the student was killed by rogue elements in the Egyptian security services. Their Egyptian counterparts have so far maintained there is no basis for such claims.

* Agence France-Presse