Italy ambassador returns to Egypt after 17-month hiatus

By Mahmoud al-Husseini

CAIRO (AA) - Italy has sent an ambassador back to Egypt following a 17-month absence prompted by last year’s diplomatic row between Cairo and Rome.

According to an unnamed Egyptian diplomatic source quoted by the local media, Ambassador Giampaolo Cantini arrived at Cairo Airport on Wednesday where he was received by Egyptian Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister Ashraf Munir.

He is expected to officially assume his diplomatic responsibilities in Cairo on Dec. 14.

Cantini succeeds Maurizio Massari, the Italian ambassador who was recalled from Egypt last year amid a fierce diplomatic row caused by the death in Cairo of an Italian graduate student.

Giulio Regeni, 28, vanished on Jan. 25 of last year -- the fifth anniversary of a popular uprising that forced Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years in power.

Nine days later, the student’s dead body -- bearing signs of extreme torture -- was discovered on the outskirts of Cairo.

Egyptian authorities deny any involvement in Regeni’s death, but observers had noted at the time that the signs of torture on the young man’s body were uncannily similar to those associated with Egyptian police torture.