Three men are convicted after Cambridge student was tortured in Egyptian 'cemetery of the living' prison before having his neck broken

Three men have been convicted over the death of a Cambridge University student, who was brutally tortured in an Egyptian prison dubbed the 'cemetery of the living' a decade ago. 

Italian-born Giulio Regeni, 28, vanished in Cairo on January 25, 2016, and his body was found dumped on a motorway a week later with a broken neck and signs that he had been tortured. 

An autopsy carried out in Rome confirmed that the postgraduate student had been beaten, burnt, stabbed and flogged over a period of four days. 

Every one of his toes and fingers was broken, and he died when his neck was broken. 

Egypt said criminals were responsible for his death, while Italy said Regeni had fallen foul of the state because his research involved the politically sensitive subject of trade unions.

A decade after Regeni's death, four men were tried in absentia in Rome in connection with his death, but it is unlikely that those found guilty will ever be extradited to serve their prison terms.  

In a ruling read in court on Monday, a judge said Major Magdi Sharif ​of Egypt's General Intelligence Service, Cairo police investigations chief Colonel Ather Kamal and police Colonel Hisham Helmy were guilty of the 'aggravated kidnapping' of Regeni.

The judge acquitted Major General Tarek Sabir, the former head of state security, of the same charge and also dismissed the accusation of conspiracy to commit aggravated murder against Sharif.

Giulio Regeni (pictured) was found dead and after being tortured in Egypt 

Paola Deffendi, Giulio Regeni's mother, center, reacts with emotion as she leaves a courtroom after three of four Egyptian security officials were convicted to 10 years in prison for the abduction and murder of her son in Cairo in 2016, in Rome, Monday, September  28, 2026

The four have never publicly responded to the ​accusations, and Egypt has denied any state involvement in Regeni's death.

Prosecutors had sought life imprisonment for Sharif and 17 years and six months in jail for the other three.

'We achieved this result despite what can be ‌described as ⁠less than wholehearted cooperation from the Egyptian authorities,' Rome Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi said, adding he would review the ruling before deciding on a possible appeal.

Alessandra Ballerini, a lawyer for the Regeni family, welcomed Monday's verdict.

'From today, people around the world can feel safer,' she said, adding: 'Impunity can be defeated and democracies can place limits on arbitrary power.'

One of the last people to see Regeni alive testified in court in 2024. 

The Egyptian citizen, who kept his identity anonymous under a protection order, said he was arrested on the same day as Regeni, and first saw him at a Cairo police station. 

He then described being placed in a car with Regeni after the two men were blindfolded. 

'He kept asking for a lawyer, speaking Italian. I, who knew the language from having worked for an Italian company, mentioned this to the people in the car, but they punched me and said, 'Do you want to be a translator? He speaks Arabic better than you.'"

He added: 'We were taken to a state security office, known as the 'cemetery of the living.' Giulio was escorted to the section for foreigners. I never saw him again, but I could hear him being beaten: we were in adjacent rooms. When it comes to torturing people, they don't discriminate.

'They tied our hands, beat us, tied us with handcuffs attached to the bed, and then used electroshock therapy.'

Relations between Italy and Egypt deteriorated sharply following the killing, but ties have gradually recovered in ​recent years despite continuing demands by ​Regeni's family and rights groups for ⁠accountability.

Regeni was studying at Cambridge University at the time of his death

Paola (C-L) and Claudio (C-R), parents of Giulio Regeni, and sister Irene (3-L) hold a banner reading 'Truth for Giulio Regeni' as they demonstrate outside the Palace of Justice on the day of the first hearing in the trial over the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in 2016, in Rome, Italy, 20 February 2024

The Rome court said the three men should pay damages to Regeni's family and the Italian state. Ballerini said the government should demand payment and sever relations with Egypt.

Italian and Egyptian prosecutors initially investigated the case together, but ​the two sides later fell out and came to very different conclusions.

The Egyptians blamed the murder on a gang ​of criminals, who were ⁠subsequently killed in a shootout with police.

Italian prosecutors argued that Regeni was abducted and tortured by Egyptian security officials because of his academic research into independent unions, a sensitive subject in Cairo.

The trial opened in 2021 but was delayed by legal disputes over whether the defendants had been properly notified of the proceedings.

Italy tried ⁠on around ​30 occasions, through diplomatic and government channels, to obtain the addresses of the suspects, but never ​received any answer, a prosecutor told the trial.

Italy's top court later ruled that Egypt's failure to cooperate should not prevent the case from moving forward, saying a foreign state's refusal to assist ​an investigation could not be allowed to block accountability for torture.