he Italian public prosecution has accused the Egyptian authorities of misleading the investigation into the death of Italian research student Giulio Regeni by claiming a gang murdered him.

State television on Sunday quoted a statement by the public prosecutor of Rome saying: “Technical details in the investigation documents sent by the Egyptian judicial authorities contradict with the criminal gang’s alleged responsibility for Regeni’s murder.”

The statement said: “On 25 January 2016, the date when Regeni disappeared, the gang’s leader Tarek Saad Abdul Fattah Ismail, who was killed by the Egyptian police in March and who is accused of killing the researcher, was 130 kilometres from Regeni’s whereabouts which is proved through the communications records obtained from his mobile phone at this time.”

“This means that Tariq could not have been outside Regeni’s house or the metro station in the Egyptian capital, which is thought to be where Regeni was kidnapped,” it added.

The prosecution statement concluded: “It is clear that Regeni’s murder by a criminal gang is a false supposition that has been carefully prepared by the Egyptian authorities to mislead the investigation, therefore a third international judicial request will be sent to the Egyptian authorities.”