Parliamentary speaker Ali Abdul Aal told the head of the foreign affairs committee in the Italian parliament on Friday that Egypt is fully and transparently cooperating with Italy in investigating the death of PhD student Giulio Regeni.
According to state-owned news agency MENA, during his meeting Abdul Aal said that there should be a separation between the judicial path and other paths of cooperation between Egypt and Italy.
Regeni, an Italian Cambridge University graduate, was conducting PhD research concerning trade unions in Egypt. He disappeared on the fifth anniversary of the 25 January Revolution and his body was found on 3 February dumped on the side of a road outside of Cairo and depicting physical signs of torture.
Abdul Aal headed to Italy on Thursday to attend a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly-Union for the Mediterranean. He discussed Regeni’s case and attended a seminar on the migration of refugees.
The parliamentary speaker also stressed during the meeting on the importance of political, economic, military, and security cooperation between the two countries, particularly that both nations face common challenges relating to illegal migration.
The Italians have accused Egypt of not fully cooperating in investigations into the death of Regeni and recalled their ambassador to Egypt. They also halted military aid to Egypt. The Egyptian government, conversely, denies the involvement of its National Security apparatus in the death of Regeni, an accusation that has been repeatedly directed towards them.
However, a group of Italian and Egyptian prosecutors met in Italy in September, during which Egyptian prosecutors admitted for the first time that Regeni was investigated prior to his death.
Following his visit to Italy, Abdul Aal is expected to go to Switzerland along with a delegation from the parliament, where they will attend the 135th session of the Inter-Parliamentary Union from 23 to 27 October.
