Italy convicts three Egyptian officials in absentia for 2016 kidnapping of Giulio Regeni

A Rome court has sentenced three Egyptian security officials—Major Magdi Sharif, Colonel Ather Kamal, and Colonel Hisham Helmy—to 10 years in prison in absentia for the 2016 aggravated kidnapping of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni in Cairo. The court acquitted a fourth official, Tarek Sabir, and dismissed murder charges against Sharif. The landmark ruling follows a decade of diplomatic strain between Italy and Egypt, marked by Cairo's persistent refusal to cooperate with Italian investigators.

Convictions and sentencing of the officials

• ▪A Rome court on September 28, 2026 convicted three Egyptian security officials in absentia of the aggravated kidnapping of Italian doctoral student Giulio Regeni in Cairo in 2016
• ▪Egyptian security officials Major Magdi Sharif, Colonel Ather Kamal, and Colonel Hisham Helmy were each sentenced to 10 years in prison on September 28, 2026
• ▪The Rome court ordered the three convicted Egyptian officials to pay damages to the family of Giulio Regeni and to the Italian state

Acquittals and dismissed charges

• ▪The Rome court on September 28, 2026 acquitted Major General Tarek Sabir, the former head of Egyptian state security, of all charges related to the kidnapping of Giulio Regeni
• ▪The Rome court on September 28, 2026 dismissed the conspiracy to commit aggravated murder charge against Major Magdi Sharif, the only defendant charged with killing Giulio Regeni

Legal basis for the trial in absentia

• ▪The four Egyptian defendants in the Giulio Regeni kidnapping case were tried in absentia under Italian legislation that permits the prosecution of crimes committed abroad against Italian citizens
• ▪Italy's Constitutional Court cleared the way for the trial of the officials accused of kidnapping Giulio Regeni to proceed in absentia despite longstanding disputes over whether the accused had been properly notified of the proceedings

Lack of cooperation from Egyptian authorities

• ▪Italian prosecutors attempted on approximately 30 occasions through diplomatic channels to obtain the addresses of the Egyptian suspects in the Giulio Regeni case from Egypt, but never received a response
• ▪Rome Chief Prosecutor Francesco Lo Voi stated that the Regeni convictions were achieved despite a lack of meaningful or wholehearted cooperation from Egyptian authorities during the investigation

Abduction and death of Giulio Regeni

• ▪The body of Giulio Regeni was found on the outskirts of Cairo bearing extensive signs of torture, nine days after his disappearance according to Italian investigators
• ▪Italian prosecutors argued that Egyptian security officials abducted and tortured Giulio Regeni because of his academic research into independent trade unions, a politically sensitive subject in Cairo
• ▪Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Italian doctoral candidate at the University of Cambridge, disappeared in Cairo on January 25, 2016, while researching independent trade unions in Egypt

Bilateral relations

• ▪Alessandra Ballerini, a lawyer for the Regeni family, urged the Italian government to demand payment and sever relations with Egypt
• ▪The abduction and death of Giulio Regeni severely strained diplomatic relations between Italy and Egypt, though bilateral ties have gradually recovered in recent years

Debatable claims

• ▪Italy should sever diplomatic relations with Egypt over the Regeni case
• ▪Italy's trial of Egyptian officials in absentia is a legitimate pursuit of justice