Italy finds skeleton of Egyptian expat in Piacenza

CAIRO - 16 January 2019: Fifteen years passed since Eid al-Adham, an Egyptian citizen, has mysteriously disappeared while working in Italy's Piacenza, before the Italian authorities could finally find his skeleton while demolishing an abandoned building in mid-2018.

The skeleton was moved to the morgue of Pavia in July 2018, Egyptian Manpower Ministry's Labor Representation Office in the country's consulate in Milan said in a statement, adding that since then, the Italian authorities could not reveal the cause of Adham's death.

The Italian police contacted Adham's brother, Samir, and took a DNA sample, the ministry said in a statement. Several months later the police told him they found his brother.

Egyptian Minister of Manpower and Immigration Mohamed Saafan ordered following up on the arrival of the skeleton to the homeland, as well as checking his family's entitlements. The skeleton of the deceased is set to arrive in Cairo on Thursday evening, according to official reports.

Egyptian prisoner mysteriously dies in Italy

Viterbo hospital in Italy notified the Egyptian Embassy in Rome in July 2018 about the clinical death of Hassan Sharaf, 20, in the hospital where he was moved after he attempted to commit suicide in his solitary confinement cell, according to the hospital and prison claims.

Sharaf was set to be released last September.

The Egyptian Embassy sent a delegation to Viterbo to meet with officials of the prison and hospital to disclose the circumstances of the incident, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

Hospital officials revealed that Sharaf was moved to the hospital on July 23 in a state of full unconsciousness after he tried to kill himself in the prison. The prison officials confirmed the hospital’s statements.

The embassy submitted a formal request to the prison administration to conduct a formal investigation into the case, Abu Zeid said, adding that the embassy also asked for Sharaf’s medical records.

According to information provided by his family, Sharaf illegally migrated to Italy when he was 15 after finishing his primary education reportedly to make a good living for himself and his family. He was then able to join school in Italy. However, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison when he was 17 years old.

Sabry Abu Heikal, the victim’s first cousin, said that Sharaf last contacted his family in the holy month of Ramadan, which ended on June 14. During the call, he said that he is persecuted by one of his inmates.