File photo from April 2016 showing Giulio and Paola Regeni, the parents of Giulio Regeni, an Italian graduate student who was tortured to death in Egypt. Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP
File photo from April 2016 showing Giulio and Paola Regeni, the parents of Giulio Regeni, an Italian graduate student who was tortured to death in Egypt. Massimo Percossi/ANSA via AP

Italy returns ambassador to Cairo, cites progress in student's murder probe



Italy will be returning its ambassador to Cairo, more than a year after recalling the previous one over the lack of progress into the murder investigations of an Italian student.

Foreign minister Angelino Alfano on Monday cited "developments" in Egypt's probe but the family of Giulio Regeni expressed anger at the government's decision.

Regeni disappeared in Cairo in January last year but his body was discovered 10 days later bearing marks of torture and mutilation.

"In the light of developments made in co-operation between Italian and Egyptian investigators … the government has decided to send ambassador Giampaolo Cantini to the Egyptian capital," Mr Alfano said on Monday, suggesting there were prospects for the truth to be revealed.

"The Italian government remains committed to shedding full light on the tragic disappearance of Giulio, by sending to Cairo an authoritative figure tasked with helping in seeking the truth," he added.

Egyptian investigators have suggested it could have been a botched crime, a personal vendetta and even a road accident — all of which have been dismissed by Rome which insists those responsible for the crime must be brought to justice.

_________________________________________________

Read more:

_________________________________________________

The Italian press and western diplomats in Egypt suspect members of Egyptian security services of having abducted Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University doctoral student who had been researching trade unions and labour movements in the country.

An Italian autopsy showed that Regeni's body was covered with cuts and his bones were broken, indicating he had been hit with "fists, batons and hammers". A letter "X" was carved on his forehead and hand, according to the report cited by Italian media.

The incident fuelled diplomatic tensions between Italy and Egypt and on April last year, then-ambassador Maurizio Massari was recalled to Italy for consultations. Since then, Mr Massari has been assigned elsewhere, and the embassy in Cairo has awaited an ambassador.

Regeni disappeared on a day Cairo police were on a tense watch for protests on the fifth anniversary of the 2011 popular uprising.

But the Egyptian government has repeatedly denied its security services were involved and promised a "transparent investigation" to provide "the whole truth" about his disappearance and death.

Egypt is considered a key ally both in international efforts to combat Islamist terrorism and in efforts to stabilise neighbouring Libya, a base for human traffickers who have sent hundreds of thousands of migrants by sea toward Italy in the last few years.

Mr Alfano has dismissed any suggestion that Italy's desire to slow the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea had triggered dispatching the ambassador to Cairo.

"That Egypt is an inescapable interlocutor on issues of primary importance for Italy, like the stabilisation of Libya and the fight against terrorism, doesn't signify that Italy intends to turn the page in the search for truth in Giulio Regeni's murder," the foreign minister said.

Regeni's family has been outspoken in demanding that Italy insist on getting the truth from Egypt. His mother has said her son's face was so badly pummelled that the only facial feature she could recognise was the tip of his nose.

"It's only when we know the truth about who killed Giulio and why, when his torturers and all their accomplices are handed over to us, alive, that the ambassador can return to Cairo without trampling on our dignity," the family said.

* reporting from Agence France-Presse and Associated Press

Game Changer

Director: Shankar 

Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram

Rating: 2/5

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
THE SPECS

Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine 

Power: 420kW

Torque: 780Nm

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Price: From Dh1,350,000

On sale: Available for preorder now

The Africa Institute 101

Housed on the same site as the original Africa Hall, which first hosted an Arab-African Symposium in 1976, the newly renovated building will be home to a think tank and postgraduate studies hub (it will offer master’s and PhD programmes). The centre will focus on both the historical and contemporary links between Africa and the Gulf, and will serve as a meeting place for conferences, symposia, lectures, film screenings, plays, musical performances and more. In fact, today it is hosting a symposium – 5-plus-1: Rethinking Abstraction that will look at the six decades of Frank Bowling’s career, as well as those of his contemporaries that invested social, cultural and personal meaning into abstraction. 

Results

4.30pm Jebel Jais – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (Turf) 1,000m; Winner: MM Al Balqaa, Bernardo Pinheiro (jockey), Qaiss Aboud (trainer)

5pm: Jabel Faya – Maiden (PA) Dh60,000 (T) 1,000m; Winner: AF Rasam, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

5.30pm: Al Wathba Stallions Cup – Handicap (PA) Dh70,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: AF Mukhrej, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel

6pm: The President’s Cup Prep – Conditions (PA) Dh100,000 (T) 2,200m; Winner: Mujeeb, Richard Mullen, Salem Al Ketbi

6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Equestrian Club – Prestige (PA) Dh125,000 (T) 1,600m; Winner: Jawal Al Reef, Antonio Fresu, Abubakar Daud

7pm: Al Ruwais – Group 3 (PA) Dh300,000 (T) 1,200m; Winner: Ashton Tourettes, Pat Dobbs, Ibrahim Aseel

7.30pm: Jebel Hafeet – Maiden (TB) Dh80,000 (T) 1,400m; Winner: Nibraas, Richard Mullen, Nicholas Bachalard

Brief scoreline:

Al Wahda 2

Al Menhali 27', Tagliabue 79'

Al Nassr 3

Hamdallah 41', Giuliano 45 1', 62'

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg

Tottenham v Ajax, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE).

Second leg

Ajax v Tottenham, Wednesday, May 8, 11pm

Games on BeIN Sports