Open letter to Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi

We republish the full list of signatories to the letter below, initiated by Giulio’s colleagues from the University of Cambridge, which was published by The Guardian on 8 February 2016.

As members of the wider academic community of which Giulio Regeni was a part, we were deeply saddened to learn of his death. Our community has been enriched by his presence. We are diminished by the loss of a young researcher whose work tackled questions which are vitally important to our understanding of contemporary Egyptian society. Our thoughts go out first of all to his family and friends at this acutely painful moment.

We are appalled to hear prosecutors in Egypt report that there were extensive signs of torture on his body. Those of us who knew of Giulio’s disappearance before the discovery of his body were desperately concerned for his safety because he vanished in the midst of a security campaign which has resulted in mass arbitrary arrests, a dramatic increase in reports of torture within police stations, and other cases of disappearances, according to documentation by local and international human rights organisations. While we welcome the statement by Egyptian Ambassador to Italy, Amr Helmy, that the Egyptian authorities will fully investigate Giulio’s death, we note that according to Amnesty International, bodies reporting to the Egyptian Ministry of the Interior and the Egyptian Ministry of Defence routinely practice the same kinds of torture that Giulio is reported to have suffered against hundreds of Egyptian citizens each year.

We therefore call on the Egyptian authorities to cooperate with an independent and impartial investigation into all instances of forced disappearances, cases of torture and deaths in detention during January and February 2016, alongside any ongoing investigations by criminal prosecutors into Giulio’s death, in order that those responsible for these crimes can be identified and brought to justice.

8 February 2016

Full list of over 4600 signatories here
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Dr Andrea Teti, University of Aberdeen

Professor    Linda Clarke    University of Westminster

Dr    Glen    Rangwala    University of Cambridge

Dr    Devon    Curtis University of Cambridge

Dr    Graham     Denyer Willis     University of Cambridge

Professor Willy Brown, University of Cambridge

Professor Anna Maria Gentili, University of Bologna

Professor Isabella Camera d’Afflitto, La Sapienza university, Rome

Professor Maria Rosaria Stabili, University of Rome-III

Professor Stefano Allievi, University of Padua

Professor    Gilbert    Achcar    SOAS, University of London

Dr    Maha    Abdelrahman    University of Cambridge

Dr    Anne     Alexander    University of Cambridge

Prof    Laleh    Khalili SOAS, University of London

Dr    Nicola    Pratt     Warwick

Associate Professor    John    Chalcraft    LSE

Dr    Elizabeth    Lawrence    President, University and Colleges Union

Prof.    Yezid Sayigh    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Professor    Cheryl    McEwan    Durham University

Professor    OLIVIER    ROY    EUROPEAN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE

Dr    Ella     McPherson    Cambridge

Professsor    Bertell    Ollman    New York University

Prof. Dr.    Donatella    Della Porta    Scuola normale superiore

Dr    Sharath    Srinivasan    University of Cambridge

Dr    Amira    Bennison    Cambridge

Prof    Jocelyn    Alexander    University of Oxford

Prof    Clément    Mouhot    University of Cambridge

Professor    Bridget    Anderson    University of Oxford

Professor    Patrick     Baert     University of Cambridge

Professor     Jack    Goldstone    George Mason University

Professor emeritus    Raymond    Geuss    Cambridge

Professor    Nicola    Gardini    University of Oxford

Professor    Jeremy    Johns    University of Oxford

FBA Professor    Cecile    Laborde    UCL

Prof. Dr. Dr.    Marcel    van der Linden    Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

Professor     Nadje    Al-Ali    SOAS University of London

Dr    Charles    Jones    University of Cambridge

Prof    Annelies    Moors    University of Amsterdam

Professor    Ray    Bush    University of Leeds

Professor    Alfredo    Saad Filho    SOAS University of London

Paola    Caridi    Journalist and Independent scholar, Italy

Emeritus Professor    Charles    Butterworth    University of Maryland

Prof    Mark    LeVine    UC Irvine

Professor     Alex    Callinicos     King’s College London

Associate Professor    Daniela    Pioppi    University of Naples L’Orientale

Associate Professor    Sandro    Mezzadra    University of Bologna

Andreina    De Clementi     Italy

Emeritus Professor    Anna Maria Gentili    University of Bologna

and over 4600 others