Parents of murdered Cambridge student Giulio Regeni condemn return of Italian ambassador to Cairo

The parents of Giulio Regeni have criticised  Italy's decision to send an ambassador back to Cairo, 15 months after withdrawing the previous one in protest over the Cambridge student's murder. 

Regeni, a 28-year-old postgraduate student at Girton College, Cambridge, was conducting research on Egyptian trade unions when he disappeared in Cairo in January 2016. He was found dead 10 days later having been brutally tortured and mutilated.

Italy has rejected multiple theories suggested by Egyptian investigators, including a road accident, a botched crime or a personal vendetta, and always insisted that those responsible be found and brought to justice.

The Italian press and western diplomats in Egypt suspect members of Egyptian security services of having abducted and fatally tortured the student.

On Monday the Italian foreign ministry said there had been progress in the case, which opened the way to return an ambassador to Egypt. 

"In the light of developments made in cooperation between Italian and Egyptian investigators ... the government has decided to send ambassador Giampaolo Cantini to the Egyptian capital," Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano said in a statement.

"The Italian government remains committed to shedding full light on the tragic disappearance of Giulio, by sending to Cairo an authoritative figure tasked with helping in seeking the truth," he said.

But Regeni's parents, Paola and Claudia, said they were "indignant" at the decision. 

"It's only when we know the truth about who killed Giulio and why, when his torturers and all their accomplices are handed over to us, alive, that the ambassador can return to Cairo without trampling on our dignity," they said.

The Italian prosecutor investigating the case, Judge Giuseppe Pignatone, said in a joint statement with his Egyptian counterpart that Italian investigators would travel to Cairo in September to observe a reconstruction of CCTV footage from the metro station in front of Regeni’s Cairo apartment.

Italian investigators had asked to see the footage but were told it had been deleted.