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2nd LD: Egypt denies Italy's demand for phone records in case of Regeni's death

Xinhua, April 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Egypt has rejected Italy's demand for phone records of Egyptian citizens in the case of the death of Italian student Giulio Regeni, an Egyptian prosecutor told a press conference in Cairo on Saturday.

"The Egyptian side did not reject the request out of obstinacy or hiding, but in accordance with the Egyptian constitution and law," Assistant Public Prosecutor Mostafa Suleiman told reporters on the results of the recent visit of an Egyptian judicial and security delegation to Rome over Regeni's case.

The Egyptian official said Egypt rejected the Italian demand as it is against Egyptian laws, and it is the only Italian request that has not been met by the Egyptian side, explaining the demand might include a million phone calls and it is illegal to reveal them to a foreign side.

Regeni's half-naked, tortured body was found in early February on a distant roadside in Cairo, nine days after his disappearance in the Egyptian capital city.

The ambiguous death of Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian PhD student who has been in Egypt for a research, cast shadow on the Italian-Egyptian relations as Italy showed dissatisfaction with the Egyptian probe into the case.

On Friday, Italy recalled its ambassador to Cairo for consultations after the departure of the Egyptian visiting delegation from Rome.

The Egyptian prosecutor said "98 percent of the demands of the Italian side have been met, except for this one of call records because it is against the law." He stressed Regeni's case is still under investigation.

Meanwhile, the Italian side updated the Egyptian delegation in Rome with their investigation in the disappearance of Egyptian citizen Adel Muawwad in Italy in late 2015, the Egyptian prosecutor said.

In late March, Egyptian police said they killed a four-member gang and found a fifth dead body with them in a van they were driving after a shootout in Cairo, adding they found Regeni's handbag with his passport and student card after searching a residence of one of the members' relatives.

The police stressed the dead gang had a record of kidnapping and robbing foreigners, a narrative that did not appeal to the Italian side whose officials and media point fingers at the Egyptian police that face similar claims of abuses at home. Endit