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Parents of slain Italian student scoff at Egypt explanation

Paola, the mother of Giulio Regeni, holds a banner reading: Truth for Giulio Regeni, prior to the start of a press conference held at the Italian Senate, in Rome, Tuesday, March 29, 2016. Giulio Regeni, 28, an Italian doctoral student disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25, the anniversary of Egypt's 2011 uprising, a day when security forces were on high alert and on the streets in force to prevent any demonstrations or protests. His body, stabbed repeatedly and exhibiting cigarette burns and other signs of torture, was reported found on Feb. 3. (AP hoto/Gregorio Borgia)
Paola, the mother of Giulio Regeni, holds a banner reading: Truth for Giulio Regeni, prior to the start of a press conference held at the Italian Senate, in Rome, Tuesday, March 29, 2016. Giulio Regeni, 28, an Italian doctoral student disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25, the anniversary of Egypt's 2011 uprising, a day when security forces were on high alert and on the streets in force to prevent any demonstrations or protests. His body, stabbed repeatedly and exhibiting cigarette burns and other signs of torture, was reported found on Feb. 3. (AP hoto/Gregorio Borgia)

By Associated Press 3 min read

ROME (AP) – The face of an Italian doctoral research student found killed in Cairo was so badly beaten that only the tip of his nose was recognizable, his mother said Tuesday as she and her husband dismissed the latest explanation provided by Egyptian authorities about their son’s death.

Paola Regeni said she saw “all the evil of the world” when looking down at the face of 28-year-old son, Giulio, after his body was flown to Rome in early February.

“In the morgue, I recognized Giulio only by the tip of his nose,” she said. “I won’t tell you what they did to him.”

Speaking to reporters for the first time since their 28-year-old son’s body was found on a Cairo roadside, Paola and her husband, Claudio, said the Egyptian explanation of their son’s death rang hollow.

The couple earlier informed Italian investigators that most of the items that Egypt’s interior ministry claimed belonged to Giulio – such as a red sports bag and sunglasses – and had been found in the house of a gang of robbers weren’t their son’s at all, bar some documents including his passport and student identification card.