Rome court sentences three Egyptians in Regeni case

An Italian court in Rome sentenced three Egyptian security officials to 10 years in prison for aggravated kidnapping in the 2016 abduction of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, while acquitting a fourth defendant. The court did not uphold the murder charge against one of the defendants. The officials were tried in absentia, and it remains uncertain whether those convicted will serve their sentences. The ruling followed years of legal proceedings over Regeni’s disappearance in Cairo and his death. He was a 28-year-old doctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge when he disappeared on January 25, 2016, while researching independent trade unions in Egypt. His body was found in February bearing signs of extensive torture, according to reports on the case. Italian prosecutors alleged that Egyptian security officials abducted and tortured Regeni. The court’s convictions, however, were for kidnapping, not murder. The fourth defendant, Major General Tarek Sabir, was acquitted. The murder charge against Magdi Ibrahim Abdelal Sharif was dismissed, while Sharif and two other officials, Hisham Helmi and Ather Kamal, received the 10-year sentences.