Italian student Giulio Regeni was
tortured for seven days before being killed in Cairo last month,
two Egyptian police sources were quoted by Reuters as saying
Tuesday citing Cairo coroner Hisham Abdel Hamid.
The Egyptian justice ministry denied the report and
threatened to sue anyone repeating it.
The wounds on Regeni's body show the alleged torture
happened at intervals of 10-14 hours, the sources told Reuters.
"That means that whoever is accused of killing him was
interrogating him to get information," the sources told Reuters.
Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge doctoral student
researching Egyptian trade unions, was found in a ditch outside
Cairo on February 3 after disappearing on January 25, the
heavily policed fifth anniversary of the uprising that ousted
former strongman Hosni Mubarak.
The Egyptian justice ministry quickly denied the Reuters
report citing Hamid, whose official title is director of the
department of forensic medicine in Cairo.
The ministry said the report was "devoid of all
foundation".
Abdel Hamid "was not called in by the police", said
Shaaban El Shami, forensic medicine aide to the Egyptian justice
minister, threatening legal action against those publishing
"news that comes from sources who want to distort reality for
political ends and which has nothing to do with the truth".
The Italian coroner who carried out an Italian autopsy on
Regeni's body declined to comment on the Reuters report.
"We still have tests to carry out," said Antonio Fineschi.
The coroner is set to meet next week with Italian
prosecutors.
"That will be the chance to evaluate the situation",
Fineschi said.
An Egyptian lawyer who knew Regeni said he had noted
"clear signs of anxiety" in the days before he was abducted on
January 25, Egyptian daily Al Ahram said Tuesday, citing sources
close to the probe into Regeni's alleged torture and death.
As well, a woman friend reported that the young researcher
advised her not to go out on the anniversary of the uprising
because of possible "acts of violence", the daily said.
Another daily, Al-Akhbar, said that the Egyptian security
apparatus and the seven Italian investigators in Cairo had wound
up their questioning of 24 witnesses and friends and neighbours
of Regeni.
Al-Akhbar, a pro-government daily, also said a
"high-ranking security source" had "raised the possibility that
Regeni "was betrayed by one of those responsible for his
activities" at the Anglo-American think tank Oxford Analytica.
This person, the source said, may have "decided to get rid
of him after profiting from the information" provided by the
young researcher, who was working on Egyptian trade unions.
Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni again stressed that Italy
expects full cooperation from Egypt in Regeni's death.
Italy has received assurances that "the various elements
of investigation requested by us will be given to us swiftly,"
he said.
He said the government expected "full, effective and
timely cooperation on the investigative level" because "both the
Regeni family and the dignity of our country demand getting sure
and serious elements on this affair".
Italy has repeatedly stressed that the danger of a
cover-up of the incident should be averted.
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