The latest Egyptian account of the
torture and murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni met with
incredulity in Italy on Wednesday and prompted calls for Premier
Matteo Renzi's government to do more to get the truth from
Cairo.
The Giza prosecutor leading the probe for Egypt, Hassam
Nassar, played down reports of torture and said that Regeni was
killed the day before his body was found on February 3 after
being subjected to one single bout of violence.
"He was killed in a timeframe between the 2nd and the 3rd,"
Nassar told La Repubblica in an interview.
Far from being tortured for at least a week, as previously
reported, "the violence he was subjected to was all inflicted at
one time, between 10 and 14 hours before his death," Nassar
said.
Nassar added that there had been a "misunderstanding"
about Regeni's clipped ears and torn-out nails.
He said Egyptian doctors had taken off parts of the ears,
as well as a fingernail and toenail, to "carry out more thorough
analyses.
"In the case of the nails they wanted to verify if they
contained traces that could give leads or demonstrate a fight,"
he said.
As for the burns on the body, previously reported to have
been cigarette burns all over the body, Nassar said "they are
all concentrated on the left shoulder.
"But frankly, our doctors have not been able to tell us
what their origin may have been".
This version of events met with skepticism and was
interpreted by some as being the latest in series of attempts to
cover up the truth.
The Regeni case has been interpreted by critics of Abdel
Fattah el-Sisi's administration as symptomatic of its oppression
of opponents and abuse of human rights.
Egyptian officials have suggested the death could have
been a road accident or been caused by Islamist extremists.
"I think a much more dignified response (from the
government) is needed on Regeni because they are making fun of
us," said Pier Ferdinando Casini, the chair of the Senate's
foreign affairs committee.
"The responses from Egypt have been insufficient and
contradictory and with the clear intent to waste time.
"This is not something that we can yield on. The honour of
a nation and its people is behind the Regeni case".
Cairo police had been looking for Regeni since the end of
December, friends of the slain Italian student told La
Repubblica daily Wednesday.
On December 11 Regeni attended a meeting with some NGOs on
the trade union movements he was researching for his Cambridge
doctoral thesis, the sources told the Rome daily.
They said Regeni was surprised to see "an Egyptian girl
taking his picture with a cellphone", they said.
"One of the possibilities is that informants for the
security forces were present".
Two weeks later, the sources told La Repubblica, the
police sought Regeni in his home without finding him, in one
case threatening to search it.
And on the day Regeni disappeared, January 25 - the fifth
anniversary of the uprising that ousted former strongman Hosni
Mubarak - "all you had to do was go out of your house to come
across a checkpoint".
"In the preceding weeks there had been a climate of
tension and very strong paranoia, not only towards activists.
There had been blanket checks on apartments occupied by
foreigners. In the climate of paranoia and xenophobia it's
possible that some corps, departments, groups, mistook Giulio,
his work, for who knows what. Sometimes all it takes is to be
foreign and speak Arabic to arouse suspicion".
A qualified source at the Egyptian president's office told
ANSA Wednesday that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would only
comment on the case of Regeni's murder once the investigation
into his death is completed.
"All the information broadcast by the media recently...does
not allow us to express comments before the competent
authorities end their investigation into this cease and disclose
the circumstances (of his death) via undeniable proof," the
source said.
"At the moment Egypt-Italy relations are in their best
state in light of the accords elaborated for joint cooperation
between the two countries in the various political and economic
fields, in particular the fight against terrorism".
He said "this was clear" in the most recent phone
conversation between al-Sisi and Premier Matteo Renzi, referring
to talks on January 18.
President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday received Regeni's
parents, Paola and Claudio, and his sister Irene.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
