Egypt police reject accusation over Italian student's death

The Egyptian police strongly rejected the circulating charges of involvement in the recent killing of an Italian student in Cairo, the Egyptian interior minister said in a press conference on Monday.

"Some pages and newspapers gave hints that the police are behind this accident. This accusation is completely rejected even to refer to, because this is not the policy of the Egyptian security apparatus," Ministry Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar told reporters.

Egypt is currently investigating the ambiguous death of 28-year-old student Giulio Regeni whose body was found last week on a highway on the outskirts of Cairo. Regeni's body was sent back to Rome on Saturday.

"The Egyptian security apparatus has never been referred to in involvement in something like that," said the Egyptian minister, stressing the Egyptian police are known for their integrity and transparency.

Regeni reportedly disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25 while the country was marking the national Police Day, which coincides with the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled long-time leader Hosni Mubarak.

Before his disappearance, the Italian PhD student went out to meet a friend in downtown Cairo where he lived nearby.

Abdel-Ghaffar said the police have been informed two days after Regeni's disappearance, stressing the police are far above involvement in such a crime and advising not to jump to conclusions before the results of the ongoing investigations.

He referred to the police involvement in Regeni's death as mere "baseless rumors" and described the several campaigns against the Egyptian police are "unjustified."

The minister noted that the Italian man has never been arrested or detained by the Egyptian police before, noting that the case is currently in the information-gathering state that takes time.

"The man had several relations with Egyptians and foreigners and they all need to be accurately examined," Abdel-Ghaffar said.

Egypt's has been suffering growing anti-government terror attacks since the military ousted former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 following mass protests against his one-year rule.

The police then launched a massive security crackdown on Morsi's supporters, mostly from the now-blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group, that killed over 1,000 and arrested thousands more.

"We have information that some elements of the Muslim Brotherhood group seek to carry out terrorist operations in cooperation with those believing in the ideology of the Islamic State terrorist group," the minister told the news conference.

Abdel-Ghaffar denied torture cases in the Egyptian prisons and rejected accusing the police of liquidating suspects during their arrest.

Egypt officially expressed full cooperation and coordination with the Italian side to reveal the mystery of the man's death soonest, while an Italian delegation arrived in Cairo on Friday to follow up the investigation.

An Italian team of detectives is currently in Cairo and is joining in the probe into the Italian man's death.

Italy is one of Egypt's most important Western economic and trade partners with good and stable bilateral relations between the two countries. Endit