Dozens of students and professors participated in a demonstration to show solidarity with late Italian student Giulio Regeni at the American University in Cairo (AUC) on Wednesday. Held two weeks after Regeni was found dead, the organisers said the event was both a stand “for Giulio Regeni” and “academic freedom,” as well as a stance against mounting state repression. Following Regeni’s death, the AUC administration extended its condolences for Regeni’s “passing away” to family and friends, in a statement published on February 4. But the university was strongly criticised by students and professors, who said Regeni did not just “pass away” but was “murdered and tortured.” Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian Ph.D. student in Cambridge University, disappeared on January 25, on the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that toppled former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. He was a visiting scholar at the American University in Cairo and conducted research on independent trade unions. His body was found with visible torture marks 10 days after he went missing but with his disappearance and subsequent events still shrouded in mystery, speculation has mounted and Italian media services are openly blaming Egyptian security forces. Regeni’s death…
AUC Students, Professors Mourn Death of Giulio Regeni Amid Concerns Over Academic Freedom
February 18, 2016
