Regeni’s tutor deported from Egypt for ties to MB: Italian media

CAIRO – 13 January 2018: Italian student Giulio Regeni’s Cambridge University tutor, Maha Mahfouz Abdel Rahman, has been supposedly deported from Egypt for her alleged association with the Muslim Brotherhood, Italian media outlets reported Friday.

It was added that Abdel Rahman has had a huge impact on Regeni’s case’s investigations. Both the Egyptian and Italian security forces are still investigating and following new evidences in the case.

Telephone recordings of Abdel Rahman during the period of January 2015 until February 2016 are expected to be examined by the Italian prosecutor according to the local media outlets.

Maha Abdel Rahman became a recluse for about a year after Regeni’s murder, with some claiming that she had disappeared. This behavior was justified at the time by saying that she was suffering from severe depression following her student’s death. However, others thought that she was hiding or avoiding participating in the investigations.

While being questioned by the Italian prosecutor, Abdel Rahman mostly answered with “I don’t remember,” and “I don’t know,” which further heightened doubts about her.

The professor’s laptop and some of her documents and papers were seized by the Italian security forces as part of the investigations; however nothing has yet been revealed.

On December 8, Italy's Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano announced commencing an investigation into the Cambridge University academe, who supervised Giulio Regeni’s dissertation.

Alfano’s decision came after his meeting with his UK counterpart Boris Johnson on December 6, who clarified that "a British judge has accepted the European investigation warrant and therefore the Cambridge tutor can be questioned,” according to BBC.

Also, on November 2, the Italian magazine Vanity Fair revealed that Professor Maha Abdel Rahman is closely tied with the Muslim Brotherhood.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi stated in a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni that Egypt is keen to penalize those involved in the homicide of the Italian researcher.

On January 25, 2016, the 28-year-old Italian postgraduate student disappeared in Cairo, only for his dead body to be found on February 3 alongside the Cairo-Alexandria highway, bearing signs of extreme torture and beating, according to Reuters. This murder has led to strained relations between Italy and Egypt.