EU Parliament Demands Egypt Cooperation on Italian Student's 'Torture' Death

The European Parliament on Thursday called on Egyptian authorities to cooperate in the investigation of the "torture and assassination" of an Italian student in Cairo, saying it came within a context of deaths in custody in Egypt.

Giulio Regeni, a Cambridge University PhD student who was researching Egyptian labor movements, disappeared on January 25 and his badly mutilated body was found a week later.

MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favor of a resolution saying that the parliament in Strasbourg, France, "strongly condemns the torture and assassination under suspicious circumstances of EU citizen Giulio Regeni."

There were 588 votes for the resolution, 10 against and 59 abstentions.

The resolution "calls on the Egyptian authorities to provide the Italian authorities with all the documents and information necessary to enable a swift, transparent and impartial joint investigation into the case of Mr. Regeni".

It urged Egyptian authorities to make "every effort" to bring Regeni's killers to justice.

MEPs also noted "with grave concern that the case of Giulio Regeni is not an isolated incident, but that it occurred within a context of torture, death in custody and enforced disappearances across Egypt in recent years."