Egyptian National Security Officers Tried for Murder of Italian Student After 8 Years

The trial for the torture and murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni by Egyptian national security officers in 2016 began on February 20, 2024 (WikiMedia).

Italian prosecutors brought four members of Egypt’s national security agency to trial on February 20 for the 2016 kidnapping, torture, and murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni. Concerns over legality threw the 2021 trial into question, wrote Euronews, until the Italian constitutional court ruled the trial could proceed in September 2022.

Giulio Regeni was a 28-year-old PhD student at Cambridge University who disappeared while on a research trip in Egypt in 2016, reported the Guardian. For his doctoral thesis, Regeni was researching the independent union activities among Egyptian street vendors, a particularly controversial subject due to government suppression of unofficial protest movements since 2013, according to Euronews. Regeni went missing on January 25, 2016 in Egypt while on his way to meet friends in Tahrir Square. His body was found nine days later in a ditch just outside of Cairo with torture-induced injuries including broken bones, stab wounds, cigarette burns, and bruises, said BBC.

Relations between Egypt and Italy were tense when the investigation began. Egyptian officers refused to cooperate with Italian investigators in Cairo, reported Euronews. Italy repeatedly accused Egypt of blocking the investigation. Egypt did send CCTV footage that Italy requested in 2018 of the Cairo Metro the night Regeni disappeared, but the film had many “unexplained gaps,” rendering it useless. Diplomatic relations between Italy and Egypt became incredibly strained during this period, culminating in Italy recalling its ambassador from Cairo. 

Egyptian prosecutors advanced several possible explanations for the incident, including gangster attack, car accident, failed drug deal, and botched robbery, wrote BBC. Still, Egypt denied any state involvement in Regeni’s death, ultimately dropping the investigation in 2020 due to “insufficient evidence.”

In contrast, Italian prosecutors concluded that Regeni was kidnapped and murdered by Egyptian national security officers because they thought he was a spy. According to human rights activists, Al Jazeera reported, Regeni’s body was discovered near the Egyptian National Security Agency’s detention facility. It bore injuries similar to those sustained by other known of victims of the widespread torture within Egyptian security facilities, according to the Guardian. Egypt later admitted to having Regeni under surveillance in 2016.

Italy charged General Tariq Sabir, Colonel Usham Helmi, Colonel Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim, and Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif for the kidnapping, torture, and killing of Regeni, says BBC. The trial was set for October 2021, but the judge suspended proceedings due to concerns about the prosecution failing to find and notify the defense of their charges, as the Egyptians continued to resist cooperation. It was not until September 2023 that Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that the trial could continue in their absence.

When the trial finally began on February 20, details Al Jazeera, Regeni’s parents and sister stood outside the courtroom with a yellow poster calling for “Truth for Giulio Regeni.” According to human rights groups, the trial marks the first time an Egyptian official’s alleged crimes committed in Egypt will be adjudicated abroad. The legal proceedings have already made waves in both the Italian and the Egyptian justice systems, and will continue to distress the diplomatic relationship between the two countries in the coming months.