Rome convicts three Egyptian officials over Giulio Regeni’s abduction

• Rome’s Court of Assizes sentenced three Egyptian security officials to 10 years each for aggravated kidnapping.¹
• The men were tried in absentia. A fourth defendant, Tariq Sabir, was acquitted of kidnapping.¹
• The court dismissed the aggravated-murder conspiracy charge against Magdi Sharif; nobody was convicted of murder in this verdict.¹
• Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old researcher, disappeared in Cairo in January 2016; his body was found days later bearing signs of extensive torture.¹

The convictions mark a first-instance finding of responsibility for Regeni’s abduction, not for his death. The three sentenced men are Major Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif and Colonels Hisham Helmy and Ather Kamal. Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment for Sharif and 17 years and six months for each of the other three defendants.¹

Regeni disappeared on 25 January 2016 while researching independent trade unions in Egypt. His body was found on 3 February. Italian prosecutors argued Egyptian security officials abducted and tortured him because of his research; Egypt denied state involvement and blamed criminals for his death, Reuters reported.¹

The case damaged relations between Italy and Egypt. Italian authorities said they had been unable to establish where the accused were. The verdict therefore does not put them in custody: all four defendants were absent from the Rome trial.¹

Proceedings were delayed by disputes over whether the defendants had been properly notified. Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled in 2023 that the trial could proceed in circumstances where foreign-state non-cooperation had blocked notice, while preserving a safeguard: defendants who later appear can seek a fresh determination of the case.²

The verdict’s detailed reasoning was still awaited after the hearing. Rome chief prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi said he would review it before deciding whether to appeal; questions about appeal options and extradition were not settled by the verdict-day reports.³

Footnotes

1. Reuters, carried by Internazionale, “Italian court convicts three Egyptians in absentia for kidnap of slain student Regeni”. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Italian Constitutional Court, Judgment No. 192/2023. ↩

3. ANSA, video of Rome chief prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi’s post-verdict remarks. ↩