Egypt detains Regeni’s lawyer

The Egyptian prosecution on Tuesday detained Ahmad Abdullah, the lawyer representing the family of Italian student Giulio Regeni who was tortured and murdered in Cairo.

Lawyer from the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms Duaa Mustafa told the Anadolu Agency that Abdullah was being held pending investigations.

Mustafa said the prosecutor accused Abdullah of ten charges including “incitement to use force to overthrow the government and change the state constitution and the Republican regime, as well as spreading false rumours to disturb public security and damage public interest.”

Earlier, the Regeni family has called to release their legal advisor.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Regeni family expressed their disappointment following the arrest of Dr. Ahmed Abdullah, the head of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), a non-governmental organisation that provides legal advice.

Abdullah was arrested on Monday alongside activist Sana Saif and lawyer Malek Adly after security forces broke into his home in Cairo and charged them with incitement to violence to overthrow the government, joining a terrorist group, and supporting terrorism.

Regeni, a 28-year-old postgraduate student, disappeared in Cairo on 25 January. His body was found on 3 February on the side of a road outside Cairo. It showed signs of torture.