Three men have been convicted of kidnapping and torturing Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University student who disappeared in Cairo on January 25, 2016. Found dead seven days later with signs of severe torture, including broken neck and fingers/toes, the verdict followed a decade-long investigation where Italian authorities tried the Egyptian officials in absentia. The convicted men are Major Magdi Sharif, Colonel Ather Kamal, and Colonel Hisham Helmy from Egypt's security services; they face up to ten years in prison each. Despite this ruling, it is unlikely that those found guilty will ever be extradited to Italy due to diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-29,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
- See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source
Three men have been convicted over the death of a Cambridge University student, who was brutally tortured in an Egyptian prison dubbed the 'cemetery of the living' a decade ago.
Italian-born Giulio Regeni, 28, vanished in Cairo on January 25, 2016, and his body was found dumped on a motorway a week later with a broken neck and signs that he had been tortured.
asserted
he → see → neck
An autopsy carried out in Rome confirmed that the postgraduate student had been beaten, burnt, stabbed and flogged over a period of four days.
asserted
student → carry → days
Every one of his toes and fingers was broken, and he died when his neck was broken.
asserted
neck → break → toes
Egypt said criminals were responsible for his death, while Italy said Regeni had fallen foul of the state because his research involved the politically sensitive subject of trade unions.
asserted
research → say → unions
A decade after Regeni's death, three men were tried in absentia in Rome in connection with his death, but it is unlikely that those found guilty will ever be extradited to serve their prison terms.
asserted
those → try → terms
In a ruling read in court on Monday, a judge said Major Magdi Sharif of Egypt's General Intelligence Service, Cairo police investigations chief Colonel Ather Kamal and police Colonel Hisham Helmy were guilty of the 'aggravated kidnapping' of Regeni.
asserted
Sharif → read → Regeni
The judge acquitted Major General Tarek Sabir, the former head of state security, of the same charge and also dismissed the accusation of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder against Sharif.
asserted
judge → acquit → Sharif
Giulio Regeni (pictured) was found dead and after being tortured in Egypt
Paola Deffendi, Giulio Regeni's mother, center, reacts with emotion as she leaves a courtroom after three of four Egyptian security officials were convicted to 10 years in prison for the abduction and murder of her son in Cairo in 2016, in Rome, Monday, September 28, 2026
asserted
officials → picture → Rome
The four have never publicly responded to the accusations, and Egypt has denied any state involvement in Regeni's death.
asserted
Egypt → respond → death
Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment for Sharif and 17 years and six months in jail for the other three.
asserted
Prosecutors → seek → three
'We achieved this result despite what can be described as less than wholehearted cooperation from the Egyptian authorities,' Rome Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi said, adding he would review the ruling before deciding on a possible appeal.
asserted
he → achieve → appeal
Alessandra Ballerini, a lawyer for the Regeni family, welcomed Monday's verdict.
asserted
Ballerini → welcome → verdict
'From today, people around the world can feel safer,' she said, adding: 'Impunity can be defeated and democracies can place limits on arbitrary power.'
One of the last people to see Regeni alive testified in court in 2024.
asserted
One → feel → 2024
The Egyptian citizen, who kept his identity anonymous under a protection order, said he was arrested on the same day as Regeni, and first saw him at a Cairo police station.
asserted
he → keep → station
He then described being placed in a car with Regeni after the two men were blindfolded.
'
asserted
men → describe → Regeni
He kept asking for a lawyer, speaking Italian.
asserted
He → keep → Italian
I, who knew the language from having worked for an Italian company, mentioned this to the people in the car, but they punched me and said, 'Do you want to be a translator?
asserted
you → know → me
He speaks Arabic better than you.'
asserted
He → speak → you
He added: 'We were taken to a state security office, known as the 'cemetery of the living.'
asserted
We → add → living
Giulio was escorted to the section for foreigners.
asserted
Giulio → escort → foreigners
I never saw him again, but I could hear him being beaten: we were in adjacent rooms.
uncertain
we → see → rooms
When it comes to torturing people, they don't discriminate.
asserted
they → come → people
'They tied our hands, beat us, tied us with handcuffs attached to the bed, and then used electroshock therapy.
asserted
They → tie → therapy
Relations between Italy and Egypt deteriorated sharply following the killing, but ties have gradually recovered in recent years despite continuing demands by Regeni's family and rights groups for accountability.
asserted
ties → deteriorate → accountability
Regeni was studying at Cambridge University at the time of his death
Paola (C-L) and Claudio (C-R), parents of Giulio Regeni, and sister Irene (3-L) hold a banner reading 'Truth for Giulio Regeni' as they demonstrate outside the Palace of Justice on the day of the first hearing in the trial over the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in 2016, in Rome, Italy, 20 February 2024
The Rome court said the three men should pay damages to Regeni's family and the Italian state.
asserted
men → study → family
Ballerini said the government should demand payment and sever relations with Egypt.
asserted
government → say → Egypt
Italian and Egyptian prosecutors initially investigated the case together, but the two sides later fell out and came to very different conclusions.
asserted
sides → investigate → conclusions
The Egyptians blamed the murder on a gang of criminals, who were subsequently killed in a shootout with police.
asserted
who → blame → police
Italian prosecutors argued that Regeni was abducted and tortured by Egyptian security officials because of his academic research into independent unions, a sensitive subject in Cairo.
asserted
Regeni → argue → Cairo
The trial opened in 2021 but was delayed by legal disputes over whether the defendants had been properly notified of the proceedings.
asserted
defendants → open → proceedings
Italy tried on around 30 occasions, through diplomatic and government channels, to obtain the addresses of the suspects, but never received any answer, a prosecutor told the trial.
asserted
prosecutor → try → trial
Italy's top court later ruled that Egypt's failure to cooperate should not prevent the case from moving forward, saying a foreign state's refusal to assist an investigation could not be allowed to block accountability for torture.
uncertain
refusal → rule → torture
The Aporia
