Severing ties with Egyptian Parliament is 'nonsense': L’Indro

CAIRO – 4 December 2018: Head of Italy's Chamber of Deputies Roberto Fico’s decision to cut off ties with Egyptian Parliament is “nonsense”, and the Italian government should take an action toward it, Italian newspaper L’Indro pointed out on Monday.

The newspaper remarked that Fico does not realize the consequences of his decision as Egypt plays an important role in the whole world not only in the Middle East. It explained that Italy’s oil interest is protected by Egypt; hence, Italy should deepen its relation with Egypt.

Egypt cooperates with Italy to reach the truth about Giulio Regeni's murder and pays great attention to solve the case, the newspaper added.

On November 29, Fico decided to suspend Italy's Chamber of Deputies’ relations with the Egyptian Parliament due to the lack of progress in the probe into the death of Italian student Regeni.

Previously, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi stressed during his meeting with Fico on September 18 that Egypt is keen to solve Italian student Regeni’s murder case and Egyptian authorities are committed to full transparency with the Italian side in this regard.

Giulio Regeni’s Murder

On January 24, 2018, Egypt’s General Prosecution said that the letter attributed to the head of Egypt's intelligence service on the arrest of the Italian student prior to his death in Egypt is forged.

An unknown person had sent the letter to the Italian Embassy in Bern, Switzerland. The General Prosecution received a letter from the Italian prosecution dated January 22, 2018 containing a fabricated letter dated January 30, 2016 and attributed to the head of Egypt’s intelligence service, the prosecution said in a statement.

The letter claims that Egypt’s security bodies arrested Regeni before his death in Cairo.

The Italian prosecution demanded that Egypt’s investigation authorities take the necessary measures in order to check the authenticity of the letter in compliance with judicial cooperation between the two countries on Regeni’s murder, according to the statement.

Investigations conducted by Egypt’s prosecution revealed that the letter is completely untrue and forged, read the statement.

The prosecution added that it informed the Italian side about the outcome of investigations within the framework of fruitful bilateral cooperation.

Meanwhile, the prosecution said it followed up with deep regret the reports circulated by several Italian media outlets and social media pages on the matter, noting that such reports harm judicial cooperation between Cairo and Rome.

On that score, the prosecution urged the media to check the authenticity of such news and their effect on public opinion.

Italy’s prosecutor-general has paid several visits to Cairo in order to investigate Regeni’s death alongside the Egyptian authorities.

Additional reporting by Nawal Sayed