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Egypt: interior ministry transfers suspect in Italian student’s murder 

January 15, 2021 at 10:40 am

Candlelight procession in Italy for Italian student Giulio Regeni who was murdered in Egypt, 3 July 2020 [Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu Agency]

The Egyptian Interior Ministry transferred one of the four main suspects in the murder of Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni to a new position on Tuesday, Anadolu has reported. Interior Minister Mahmoud Tawfiq approved the reshuffle of security officers’ which included the transfer of the head of the National Security Agency, Major General Tariq Saber, who is now the Minister’s Assistant for Civil Status.

Last month, Saber, 57, was one of four Egyptian state security officers accused formally by Italian prosecutors of the kidnap, torture and murder of Regeni near Cairo in 2016. Observers believe that Saber’s transfer is intended to reduce his influence in the various “political security files” that he dealt with.

Egyptian prosecutors have already said that the allegations by the Italians against the four Egyptian officials will not be included in the murder case documents. “There is no point in launching a criminal case [over Regeni’s torture and killing]… due to the lack of knowledge about the perpetrator.”

The Italian Foreign Ministry has rejected the Egyptian decision and described it as “unacceptable”. The ministry stressed that it would “continue to act in all forums, including the European Union, so that the truth about the barbaric murder of Giulio Regeni can finally emerge.”

READ: Italy rejects Egypt’s decision to close Regeni murder case, vows to escalate