Italian court convicts three Egyptian security officials of kidnapping Cambridge student Giulio Regeni, who was tortured to death in Cairo

From the Newshound archive · first published 28 September 2026 · last updated 29 September 2026.

Three senior Egyptian security officers have been convicted by a Rome court and handed 10-year prison sentences for the aggravated kidnapping of Giulio Regeni, the Cambridge University doctoral student taken in Cairo in January 2016. His body was found nine days after his disappearance showing signs of systematic torture. Major Magdi Sharif, Colonel Hisham Helmi and Colonel Ather Kamal were all tried in absentia and stand little realistic chance of being extradited. General Tariq Sabir, the former head of state security and the fourth defendant, was acquitted, and a murder charge against Sharif was also dismissed. Family lawyer Alessandra Ballerini said the verdict proved 'impunity can be defeated.'

Regeni's body showed broken teeth, 15 fractured bones, cigarette burns and letters carved into his flesh.

Italian prosecutors concluded that Egypt's national security agency abducted Regeni on suspicion he was a British spy; Egyptian authorities blamed his death on criminal gangsters.

An earlier trial collapsed in 2021 after the suspects were never formally served with the charges, leaving Regeni's family without any conviction for over a decade.