Italy charges Egyptian security agents in death of student

Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Italy on Thursday charged four Egyptian National SecurityAgency officials in connection with the 2016 kidnapping and death of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni.

Regeni was a 28-year-old student studying at Britain's Cambridge University when he disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25, 2016. His body was found a month later along a highway on the outer edge of Cairo and appeared to have been tortured.

Investigators said the evidence of torture carried the hallmarks of Egyptian security forces. The incident initially strained relations with the two countries to the point where Italy recalled its ambassador to Egypt.

Italian authorities said they have received little help from Egyptian officials after being promised cooperation in the investigation. The security officials have been charged with aggravated kidnapping and conspiracy to commit aggravated murder.

The suspects were identified as Tariq Saber, Athar Kamel Mohamed Ibrahim, Capt. Uhsam Helmi and Maj. Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif. Prosecutors opted not to charge a fifth person under investigation.

"This is an extremely important result," Michele Prestipino Giarritta, Rome's chief prosecutor, said at a hearing before an Italian parliamentary commission. "Prosecutors did everything they could to investigate. We owed it to Giulio's memory."

Egyptian authorities have accused a gang of robbing Regeni. Mohamed Lotfy, executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, suggested a government coverup.

"It just proves that even in a high-profile case like this one, with so much interest and with a government behind it, even then, the Egyptian authorities are unwilling to hold to account those who made someone disappear," said Lotfy, who has assisted Regeni's family in the case.