Three convicted of kidnapping murdered Cambridge PhD student

Three members of Egypt’s security services have been found guilty of snatching a subsequently murdered University of Cambridge PhD student at a Cairo metro station 10 years ago, after a long fight for justice by his family.

Guilio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian citizen, was in the second year of his doctorate researching Egyptian labour rights as a visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo. He disappeared on the evening of 25 January 2016.

His mutilated corpse was found beside a road several days later. His body had bruises, knife wounds and cigarette burns, suggesting he had been tortured and killed.

The Times reported that three Egyptian security officers were convicted were tried in absentia in Rome because Egypt refused to extradite them. They received 10-year sentences for “aggravated kidnapping”. A fourth man was acquitted.

Sergio Colaiocco, for the prosecution, described the verdict as “a historic ruling showing Egypt was involved in the kidnapping and effectively in the torture of Giulio”.

A 2016 petition calling on the UK government to take steps to ensure there is a full investigation into Regeni’s murder attracted nearly 12,000 signatories, enough to trigger a mandatory response from the government.

Prosecutors believe that the Egyptian officers believed Regeni was using his PhD as a cover for spying on the government.

His murder prompted searching questions about the extent of universities’ duty of care for doctoral students and the specifics of Cambridge’s handling of Regeni’s safeguarding.

In 2018, Cambridge’s then vice-chancellor, Stephen Toope, condemned the “public campaign of denigration” against Regeni’s supervisor, Maha Abdelrahman, calling it “inaccurate, damaging and potentially dangerous”.