Update Feb. 2, 6:11 a.m. EST:
BREAKING: Egyptian prosecutor says Italian student's body found with stab wounds, cigarette burns, signs of torture and "slow death"
— The Associated Press (@AP) February 4, 2016
Update Feb. 2, 5:43 a.m. EST:
#BREAKING Italy confirms student's death in Egypt, summons ambassador: foreign ministry
— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 4, 2016
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The body of missing Italian student Giulio Regeni was found partially burned on the side of a road outside the capital city of Egypt on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press. The remains of the Cambridge Ph.D. student showed signs of torture, according to Reuters. Regeni's body, which has been positively identified, has been taken to a morgue in Cairo.
"The Italian government had learnt of the probable tragic end to this affair," the foreign ministry said, according to an earlier Reuters report. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni extended his sympathies to the student's family.
On Jan. 25, the anniversary of the uprising that led to the end of Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, Regeni left "his home in an upper middle class district to meet a friend downtown," according to Reuters. There were no major protests during the anniversary or during the days leading to the anniversary of the autocrat's toppling, but there was a heavier police presence when Regeni went missing. Regeni was not politically active, according to The Telegraph.
A similar incident occurred last year, according to Reuters, when Islamic State militants kidnapped a Croatian man who was later beheaded by the terrorist group, but acts of violence like this are not common in the area.
