Leaked footage shows last moments of murdered Italian student in Cairo

A leaked video capturing the last moments of a murdered Italian student has been aired by Egyptian state television this week.

The edited video shows a secretly filmed interaction between a representative of the Egyptian street vendors’ union, Mohamed Abdallah, and slain Italian national and University of Cambridge doctoral student Giulio Regeni.

In what is believed to be a carefully edited version of the recording, Abdallah is seen repeatedly asking Regeni for funds from an unidentified British foundation.

“I need the money to pay for surgery for my wife who has cancer. I will do anything,” Abdallah is seen saying at the beginning of the video.

Regeni then responds that he is unable to acquire any funds for personal purposes.

“I am an academic and I cannot submit a funds application to the British foundation saying I want the money for personal reasons…If I do this it would cause a big problem,” Regeni says in the video.

The student then explains he will help Abdallah to apply for a grant or workshop worth around $12,500 for union activities but not for personal use. Abdallah continues to ask whether there are alternative ways to get the money for personal use.

“The money can’t come through Giulio,” Regeni explains, referring to himself. “The money comes from the British to the Egyptian Centre and then goes to the vendors,” Regeni further explains in reference to an unidentified “Egyptian Centre”.

The union leader has since confirmed to Reuters that it was he who recorded Regeni and his interaction on a mobile phone in January last year.

Abdallah later took the footage to police believing Regeni was a spy. Reports claim that the filming equipment was given to Abdallah by the Egyptian intelligence service but Egyptian officials have denied any culpability in the student’s murder.

Another version of the video has also been released by Italian media that counters the edited version by showing Abdallah asking Regeni if funding can be acquired for “political” purposes.

“Are we going to use the funds in the projects for kiosks for street vendors, or are we going to use it for projects related to freedom,” Abdallah asks in the unedited version of the video. He then asks if the funds “can be done between just the two of us.”

Regeni then explains that as a foreigner conducting academic research in Egypt he cannot do so and that the only way the union can receive money would be through official channels. “Money for political purposes is difficult,”Regeni is seen as saying.

The leaks of both versions of the video come as Egyptian prosecutors announced this week they would release the CCTV footage where Regeni was reportedly last seen near a Cairo metro station to Italian prosecutors.

Regeni went missing in Cairo on the anniversary of the Egyptian uprising on 25 January last year on his way to meet a friend. His body, which showed clear signs of extreme torture, was later discovered in a roadside ditch a week later.

Egyptian authorities initially passed off his murder as the result of a road accident. However, pressure from Italian investigators forced Egypt to investigate the unlawful killing.

Egyptian authorities have been blamed for the student’s murder following reports he posed a threat due to his investigations into Egyptian independent unions – an allegation Egypt denies. No one has been arrested as of yet except a criminal gang member who was found in possession of Regeni’s belongings.

However, the evidence to connect the gang member with the killing has been blasted by experts as being implausible.

Alongside the CCTV footage released, Egypt has also said it will allow a request from Italy to send in experts, as well as data recovery experts from Germany to join the investigation.