Parents of murdered Italian student demand ‘deeds not words’ from Egyptian president

The parents of Giulio Regeni, the Italian student tortured and murdered in Egypt, have called on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to show solidarity with their son’s case through “deeds, not words”.

Their remarks came after Sisi said in an interview with Egyptian newspaper editors on Monday that he appreciated “the recent positive statements by Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on bilateral relations” and expressed “solidarity with Regeni’s family”.

“We do not understand what the positive statements that Sisi refers to are or to which solidarity he alludes, given that until today the investigations are still on hold while the Egyptian authorities did not provide specific answers about the incident,” the family said in a statement read out by their lawyer.

“Until today, we have not received the files required by our lawyers and we were not given any answer about the questions put forward,” the statement read.

Regeni was found dead near Cairo in February. His body had signs of torture.