Murdered student Regeni is coming between Egypt and Italy

The authoritarian military government in Egypt is facing an international, specifically European, crisis given the torture and murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni two months ago. The official narrative from Cairo is that he was the victim of a gang specialising in robbing and killing foreigners, but this has fallen apart after Italian officials, as well as Regeni’s family, rejected it and threatened to reveal details that may embarrass and pressure the Egyptian government. It is believed that this may expose the government’s involvement in this heinous crime. This could be why the Egyptian authorities have now denied their own explanation, illustrating the chaos and confusion within the government.

Hence, the Egyptians are searching for a new explanation which their official delegation heading for Italy can use — although it hasn’t even been formed yet. The proposed new narrative is that “people disguised in Egyptian police uniforms kidnapped Regeni and killed him.” This is even weaker and no less naïve than the original.

Why do the Egyptian authorities refuse to reveal the truth about Regeni’s death to counter the rumours in circulation? These include some from within political circles in Cairo — and thus they are presumed to carry some weight — while others are just speculation based on past experiences with Egypt’s security agencies.

It has been suggested that an official arm of the security apparatus, such as military intelligence, kidnapped, tortured and murdered the student in order to implicate the Interior Ministry and its agencies, specifically the national security agency. This has some credence given the ongoing conflict and power struggle between official institutions in Egypt. If this is true, then it would make sense for the government to refuse to disclose the name of Regeni’s murderer(s) as it would shatter the agency’s international reputation, not least because it is supposed to be a military organisation and not involved in civil affairs.

Another possible explanation is that the national security agency committed the crime for a number of reasons, the most likely of which is the culture of bullying and brutality that has spread within the agency when dealing with ordinary citizens; perhaps its senior officers thought that they could treat foreigners the same way without suffering any great consequences. In addition, there is a desire among some within this agency to involve the current government — more specifically some of its influential wings — in an international crisis in order to achieve some internal balance; again, inter-agency rivalry is at play in such a context.

Whatever the truth of Regeni’s murder, the government of Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is in big trouble, not only with Italy, one of its main allies, but also with the rest of the EU. The student’s murder has shed light on the human rights violations taking place in Egypt, driving the European Parliament to issue a recommendation to stop security cooperation and economic aid. Furthermore, countries such as Holland and Germany have escalated their level of criticism directed at the Egyptian government. The incident has already affected the relationship between Rome and Cairo, with Italian tour operators cancelling flights and holidays to Egypt until the truth is known. Italian tourists represent a sizeable proportion of the tourism industry in Egypt, especially in Sharm El-Sheikh; losing them will weaken a sector already debilitated following the Russian aircraft explosion over the Sinai Peninsula last year. The Italian Senate has urged the government to freeze relations with Cairo until the Regeni case is investigated, after declaring Egypt to be an unsafe country. Perhaps this is what has pushed the Egyptian authorities to reconsider the official narrative of the incident.

Neither Italy nor Europe are expected to sever ties with Al-Sisi’s government, especially given the ongoing “war against terrorism” and their naïve belief that it can play a role therein. However, the current international crisis is new evidence that this government is not only a failure internally (in terms of security, the economy and politics), but can also be a burden to its European allies. The latter must be embarrassed by their continued relations with a neo-fascist government that has no qualms about oppressing and murdering its own citizens and foreigners alike.

Translated from Al-Araby Al-Jadid , 4 April, 2016.