CAIRO (AP) – Egyptian state television has aired footage of an Italian student taken weeks before he was abducted and tortured to death.
The footage aired Monday of Cambridge graduate student Giulio Regeni was purportedly taken by Mohammed Abdullah, head of an unofficial street vendors union. In it, Regeni explains applications for funding from a British institution he refers to as the “Egyptian Center.”
Egypt’s pro-government media has long suggested Regeni was involved in fomenting unrest, without providing any evidence. Regeni went missing in Cairo last year on the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 25 uprising, when police were out in force.
Egypt has denied its security forces were involved in the killing. Italy severed diplomatic ties last year over Cairo’s alleged lack of cooperation in the investigation.