Egypt court releases lawyer for dead Italian student

By Sayed Fathi

CAIRO (AA) - An Egyptian court on Saturday released a legal consultant for Italian student Giulio Regeni, who was tortured and killed in Egypt.

Ahmed Abdullah was released on a 1,000-USD bail pending investigation into charges of plotting to overthrow the government, a judicial source, who preferred to be unnamed because he was not authorized to speak to media, said.

Abdullah was detained in April on multiple charges, including incitement to use force to overthrow the government and spreading false rumors.

Regeni, a 28-year-old doctoral student at Cambridge, disappeared in Cairo on the eve of the fifth anniversary of a popular uprising that unseated autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

His body -- bearing signs of extreme abuse and torture -- was found in a ditch on Cairo's outskirts more than one week later.

Regeni's death has strained Egypt's relations with Italy amid accusations for Cairo of doing little to investigate the murder.

While Egyptian authorities deny any involvement in the grisly murder, activists claim the signs of torture on the young man's body were similar to those associated with Egyptian police torture.