Egyptian team in Rome to brief Italy on Regini probe over torture, death

The Egyptian team is headed by Moustafa Soliman, assistant to Egypt's top prosecutor

In this file photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Interior on Thursday, Mar. 24, 2016, personal belongings of slain Italian graduate student Giulio Regeni, including his passport, are displayed

The Egyptian judicial team investigating the torture and murder of Italian PhD student Guilio Regini is expected to brief Italian officials in Rome Thursday on the latest findings in the probe.

The Egyptian team arrived in Rome Wednesday amid anger and warnings from Italy that "immediate and proportionate" measures would be taken against Egypt if Cairo does fully cooperate in uncovering the truth of the murder of the Italian student.

The Egyptian team is headed by Moustafa Soliman, assistant to Egypt's top prosecutor, according to news agency.

Regini, who was in Cairo conducting research on independent trade unions, went missing on 25 January. His body was found, bearing signs of torture, by a roadside on the outskirts of Cairo on 3 February.

Egypt has strongly denied claims that security forces were involved in Regeni's murder.

Italy's own investigators are still waiting to receive Regeni's mobile phone records and CCTV images from the neighbourhood in which he was alledgely abducted.

Rome also wants to know if and why Regeni was under surveillance prior to his abduction.

Following Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni's statements to parliament on adopting immediate and proportionate measures against Egyptian authorities in the case that the truth is not revealed in the Regini case, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed on the same day that the murder of the Italian student would not affect Egypt's relations with Italy.

Egypt presents Italy with 2,000-page report on Regeni probe: ANSA The report includes 'evidentiary

material' including video footage, phone records and medical reports

Circulated photo on social media of Italian student Giulio Regeni

Egypt handed Italian authorities on Thursday a 2,000-page report with testimonies from 200 people regarding the probe over the torture and death in Egypt of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni, official Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Regeni, who was in Cairo conducting research on independent trade unions, went missing on 25 January. His body was found bearing signs of torture on a roadside on the outskirts of Cairo on 3 February.

The report presented to Italy includes "evidentiary material" that Italian authorities had requested several weeks ago, including video footage, phone records and medical reports.

It is not yet clear whether Italian authorities will find the documents presented by Egypt to be satisfactory, as Italian investigators had previously said that they find “inconsistencies” in Egypt’s account of Regeni’s death.

These doubts were expressed by Italian officials after the Egyptian interior ministry said that Regeni’s belongings, including his passport, were found in possession of an alleged gang of kidnappers whom the ministry says was targeting foreigners for robbery.

The four alleged gang members were killed in a shootout with police before the documents were found in a Cairo apartment used by the gang, according to the ministry.

ANSA reported that Italian investigators may request information on whether or not Regeni was under surveillance prior to his abduction, especially during his meetings with independent unions.

The Egyptian and Italian officials are expected to discuss Regeni's case for two days starting Thursday.

The meetings are being held at a police academy in Rome and attended by Italian top prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone and three other Italian officials.

The Egyptian delegation is made up of five officials – two judges and three police officers – headed by Mustafa Soliman, the assistant to the Egyptian prosecutor-general.

Egypt's interior ministry calls on citizens to report police abuse

The ministry said it was keen not to cover up any abuse and offered a hotline for citizens to report human rights violations by police forces

Egypt's ministry of interior on Sunday called on citizens to report police abuses, a move that comes amid continuing documentation of alleged human rights violations in places of police detention.

In a statement on its official Facebook page, the ministry said any form of encroachment is "an individualistic behaviour that does not represent by any means the strategy of the interior ministry."

"[Our policy] is based on justice, equality, maintaining citizens' dignity and inviolability of personal freedoms and rights, as well as applying the law to everyone with no exceptions."

The statement offered email addresses and phone numbers for people to report incidents of human rights violations.

In recent months, alleged accounts of abuses and torture in detention cells surfaced, flashing back to the infamous reports of police assaults during Hosni Mubarak's era.

The heavy-handedness and brutality of police was one of the main causes that sparked the revolution against Mubarak and his regime in 2011.

After the ouster of Islamist ousted Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and the subsequent clampdown on his supporters, another wave of torture claims, followed by outcries from human rights groups, surfaced.

Last week, members of the state's National Council of Human Rights said some of the prisoners whom they met were badly beaten, not allowed access to toilets, potable water or given enough food.

In a separate incident, two National Security officers are currently facing charges of torturing a civilian to death in a police station in Cairo's Matariya district. In February, the general prosecution imposed a gag order on the case.