Egyptian police not prosecuted for murder of Italian student | NOW

Five Egyptian police officers are not prosecuted in connection with the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in 2016. The Egyptian prosecutor on Wednesday asked investigators to withdraw the officers from the investigation.

The prosecution said he would not prosecute the five police officers, as it is not known who is behind the murder. According to the prosecutor, the investigation into the murder will continue.

Italian prosecutors decided earlier this month to indict up to four Egyptian security officers for the torture and death of Regeni.

Regeni’s death sparked outrage in Italy, straining diplomatic relations with Egypt. The Italian government accuses the Egyptian authorities of not cooperating in the investigation into the death of the student.

The prosecution said Regeni’s parents took their son’s laptop computer with them immediately after his death, before the contents could be inspected by authorities. Italy has reportedly refused requests to transfer the laptop.

A student was tortured and murdered

Regeni, 28, a graduate student at the University of Cambridge, studied the rise of independent unions in Egypt. He disappeared without a trace at the end of January 2016. His body was found in a ditch two weeks later and showed signs of torture.

Critics of the Egyptian regime accused the security forces of being involved. The Egyptian government has denied this. An autopsy had previously revealed that the victim must have been tortured for a week before being killed.

Trade unions are a sensitive subject in Egypt. The student had written several articles under a pseudonym in which he criticized the authoritarian Egyptian regime.