Rome is preparing to repatriate the tortured body of an Italian student found dead in Cairo this week, as a posthumous article reveals the victim’s view of Egypt’s “authoritarian and repressive” regime.
The body of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old PhD student at Cambridge University, will be flown from the Egyptian capital to Rome on Saturday. The student’s death has prompted Italy to send a delegation to Cairo, including investigative police, as a murder inquiry got underway.
Regeni was found on Wednesday with signs of torture, including cigarette burns and extensive bruising, suggesting he was abused before being killed. His body was discovered on an overpass close to Cairo’s 6th October district by police on patrol, sources at the Giza public prosecutor’s office said. Local media reported that he was found without any clothes on the lower half of his body.
Regeni was living in Cairo to carry out doctoral research into the Egyptian economy and was also an expert in the country’s labour movement, something he wrote about under a pseudonym for Italy’s Il Manifesto newspaper. On Friday the journal published Regeni’s final article, against his family’s wishes, in which he described a “vibrant” meeting of over 100 trade union activists and criticised the government of Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.
“In an authoritarian and repressive context under General Sisi, the simple fact that there are popular and spontaneous initiatives that break the wall of fear is itself a major spur for change,” he wrote.
Regeni also reflected on the activists’ desire to hold a protest in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, which became the focal point of the Egyptian revolution that led to the ousting of military ruler Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Regeni disappeared on 25 January, the fifth anniversary of the start of the uprising, reportedly after leaving his home to meet a friend.
Another friend of Regeni said they had been contacted by Egyptian security officials after the student’s disappearance. “Their questions were focused on the purpose of his visit and studies. There were also some questions about his personal affiliation,” the friend told Egyptian daily Al Ahram, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“On the morning of 25 January, Regeni texted me asking me if there were any plans for a birthday celebration for one of our friends. Then I never heard from him again,” they said.