The mother of Khaled Said, the young man whose killing by police in 2010 helped spark public anger before the 2011 revolution, expressed her condolences to the mother of recently-killed Italian student Giulio Regeni in a video released on Saturday.
“I offer condolences to the mother of the martyr Regeni, and I feel for you and feel your pain, as I myself still suffer even now for my son Khaled,” Laila Marzouk said in a one-minute video uploaded on YouTube.
Regeni’s body was found on 3 February by a highway on the outskirts of Cairo, bearing signs of torture. The 28-year-old PhD student, who was in Cairo studying independent trade unions, went missing on 25 January.
“I thank you for standing with us and for caring about torture cases in Egypt and will continue the journey of your son,” added Marzouk.
In 2010, Said, 28, was beaten to death by two low-ranking policemen in the Egyptian coastal city of Alexandria. Both of the officers are currently serving a 10-year jail sentence.
Photos of Said’s disfigured face were widely circulated on social media after his death, leading to protests.
Last week Egyptian police broadcast images of Regeni’s passport and student identity cards, which they said were discovered in a flat connected to a gang who had been allegedly robbing foreigners.
All four members of the alleged gang were killed last week in a shoot-out with police.
Egyptian police said they have no evidence the four were connected to Regeni’s murder.
Police have also said that Regeni’s murder still remains a mystery due to what they described as the enormous volume of personal connections he established during his stay in Egypt.
But Egypt’s new findings have been met with scepticism by the Italian investigators and by Regeni’s family.
Regeni’s mother Paola has recently threatened to release a photo of her son’s mutilated body, should Egypt fail to uncover the truth behind his death.
An Egyptian prosecutorial delegation is set to travel to Rome on Monday to update Italian prosecutors on their latest findings.
Source: Ahram Online
