Cairo — Egypt has rejected an Italian request to hand over
the phone records of mobile subscribers in the Cairo district where an Italian
doctoral student resided before being abducted, tortured and killed, a senior
Egyptian official said on Saturday.
Senior prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman addressed a news
conference a day after Italy recalled its ambassador to protest what it
described as a lack of cooperation in the investigation of the killing of
Giulio Regeni, whose body was found in February, nine days after he
disappeared, bearing signs of torture.
Suleiman said Egypt rejected the request because it violated
Egyptian laws and the constitution. He said the Italians later told an Egyptian
delegation visiting Rome this week that the continuation of judicial
cooperation between the two nations over the case hinged on meeting their
request for the records, which include those of subscribers in the Cairo suburb
where Regeni's body was found Feb. 3.
"The Egyptian delegation reasserted its uncompromising
rejection," said Suleiman, who led the senior judicial and security team
that reviewed the case with Italian officials in Rome this week.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi said on Tuesday his
country deeply regretted Regeni's death and intended to
"transparently" continue its "full cooperation" with Italy
to resolve the case and bring the culprits to justice.
Regeni went missing on Jan. 25, the fifth anniversary of the
2011 uprising, when police were out in force to prevent demonstrations, leading
to speculation that Egyptian security forces were behind his abduction and
death. The Interior Ministry has denied any involvement.
The Egyptian government has suggested several alternative
scenarios. It recently claimed that security forces had killed members of a
kidnapping gang in a raid and circulated photos of Regeni's ID cards it said
had been found at the scene. That explanation was widely dismissed, including
in the Italian media, which has closely followed the case.
El-Sissi and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi have forged
close ties since the Egyptian leader came to office in June 2014. Italy is
Egypt's biggest EU trading partner and the two countries have been coordinating
policies on Libya, Egypt's neighbor and Italy's former colony, where the
extremist Islamic State group has a local affiliate.
Renzi told reporters on Friday that the decision to recall
the ambassador was made "immediately" after Italian prosecutors gave
their assessment of two days of meetings with the Egyptians that they had hoped
would deliver useful evidence.
"Italy, as you know, made a commitment to the family of
Giulio Regeni naturally, to the memory of Giulio Regeni, but also to the
dignity of all us, saying we'd only stop in front of the truth," Renzi
said. Recalling the ambassador to Rome "means Italy is confirming this
commitment to itself, to the family," the premier said.
