Regeni Murder: Egypt denies Italy phone record request

A senior Egyptian prosecutor, Mostafa Suleiman on Saturday in Cairo said handing over records relating to the death of Italian student, Giulio Regeni, would violate the country’s constitution.

He said Italy had demanded for thousands of phone records for areas where the student had stayed when he went missing and where his body was found, BBC reports.

Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University PhD student, was in Egypt researching labour unions when he disappeared on January 25.

His badly mutilated body was found more than a week later by the side of a road.

Rights group have suggested security forces were to blame for the murder.

However, Egypt said a criminal gang was responsible for his death.

Suleiman announced that the number of phone records requested by Italy could reach up to one million.

“This demand conflicts with and violates the constitution and constitutes a crime,” he said. He noted that his country would continue to co-operate with the Italian investigation into the killing of the Italian student.

Suleiman said the Italian investigators had also demanded for the CCTV footage that had been automatically deleted.

However, Egypt has made inquiries and discovered a programme can be purchased that might retrieve it.

Italy had on Friday recalled its ambassador Maurizio Massari for consultation over the case.