ROME -- A murder enquiry has been opened by Italian magistrates into the death of Italian Giulio Regeni, a Cambridge postgraduate student found dead in a ditch in Cairo with alleged torture marks. Regeni had been working as a freelance journalist for the left-wing Italian newspaper 'Il Manifesto', writing under a pseudonym after he expressed fears of reprisals from the Egyptian authorities for an article he was writing on trade unions in Egypt. A team of Italian investigators is expected to arrive in Cairo on Friday to begin enquiries into the student's suspected murder by the Egyptian security forces. 

 The Egyptian prosecutor referred to signs of violence on the 28-year-old's body, found naked from the waist down, including knife marks on his shoulders, a cut-off ear, cuts on the nose, cigarette burns on his arm and fist bruises on his face. The prosecutor called it "a slow death." Egyptian news site 'Youm7' reported "traces of torture and wounds all over the body" of the young man, echoing the Egyptian prosecutor's suggestion of torture.

 However, director of the General Administration for Enquiries in Giza Khaled Shalabi claimed that "there is no criminal suspicion behind the death of the young Italian Giulio Regeni, whose body was found on the Cairo-Alessandria desert road," and indicated that Egyptia authorities were regarding the possibility of a road accident.

 Italian Foreign Ministry Secretary-general Michele Valensise "underlined that Italy expects maximum cooperation at all levels from the Egyptian authorities, in light of the exceptional gravity of what has happened to our compatriot and the traditional friendly and close relations between our two countries," a statement said. However, the case is expected to put strain on Italy-Egypt relations as human rights priorities clash with economic and trade partnerships.

 A statement from the Egyptian authorities said that Egyptian ambassador to Italy Amr Mostafa Kamal Helmy "in the name of his country has expressed deepest condolences for the death of Regeni and has assured that Egypt will provide the utmost cooperation in identifying those responsible for the criminal act." Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al Sisi has assured his own "personal attention" to the case.

 Regeni, originally from Fiumicello but studying at the American University in Cairo since September, was reported missing by friends on Jan. 25, the fifth anniversary of the Egyptian uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak. Each year since the date is generally marked by disturbances and arrests. Regeni had reportedly been trying to get in contact with members of the Egyptian opposition in the days leading up to his disappearance, as research for his latest article. He had written to colleagues from the 'Il Manifesto' site expressing fear for his life and for the security of his family.

 The article, on independent trade unions in Egypt, was published on Friday on 'Il Manifesto''s website, despite opposition to the decision from his family. The family's lawyer said that "Giulio Regeni had expressly requested that the article not be published unless under a pseudonym, in order to not put in danger the safety of the authors or of their families." The site's editors wrote that, "because independent trade unions are a contentious topic in Egypt, Regni asked us to publish this article under a pseudonym, as we have done in the past. Today, we publish this last dispatch under the author's real name."

 The young student was last seen at around 8 p.m. on Jan. 25, walking in the El Dokki area of Cairo on the left bank of the Nile on his way to a friend's birthday. After he went missing, Noura Wahby, a close friend from Cambridge, called for a search effort for him.

 In a Facebook post she wrote, "Giulio is my best friend. We met each other at the beginning of our studies in 2014 in Cambridge, in the UK. He has studied Arabic for years. He loves Egypt. He loves people. He thinks that everyone deserves the best. He was my guide at Cambridge. I should have been his guide in Cairo."

 The Egyptian interior ministry revealed last week that of 191 disappearances listed by the country's National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), 99 occured in custody. The Egyptian government under army general Al Sisi has attracted widespread criticism for its violent oppression of journalists, activists and lawyers.

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