The university of Cambridge on
Wednesday denounced what it said was a "disgraceful campaign of
denigration, fuelled by political convenience" against Giulio
Regeni's former supervisor, Dr Maha Abdelrahman.
It said this came against the background of "an apparent
absence of investigative progress". In a statement,
Vice-Chancellor Stephen J. Toope reiterated Abdelrahmand's
intention to collaborate fully with the probe into the Italian
student's torture and murder in Cairo in early 2016.
But he deplored leaks from the probe.
On Janury 11 the British university said it was planning to
set up a scholarship in the name of Regeni, who was doing
research for his Cambridge PhD, university press office
spokesman Angel Gurria told ANSA.
Gurria said the university was working on the initiative to
honour the PhD student who was doing research on Egyptian
streetseller trade unions when he was abducted two years ago.
Regeni's former supervisor, Dr Abdelrahman, is "fully
cooperating" with Rome prosecutors in their probe into his
death, the university told ANSA in a statement.
Dr Abdelrahman answered "all the questions" put to her by the
prosecutors on January 9, and said she had "voluntarily handed
over the documents requested" when her home and office were
searched on January 10.
The university said it, too, would fully cooperate with the
probe.
The university had been criticised in Italy for allegedly
being tight-lipped on the case.
Italian media also reported that Abdelrahman's files were
seized because she had again failed to answer questions.
Regeni was abducted on January 25, 2016, the heavily policed
fifth anniversary of the uprising that toppled former strongman
Hosni Mubarak.
His tortured body was found on the road to Alexandria on
February 3.
Egyptian security forces, who are frequently accused of
brutally repressing opponents, have said they had no part in the
death of the Friuli-born researcher, whose work on trade unions
was politically sensitive.
In the search of Dr Abdelrahman's home and office, Rome
prosecutors seized a PC, pen drive, hard disk and cellphone.
Dr Abdelrahman reportedly told the prosecutors Regeni had
freely chosen his PhD subject.
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