Tripoli – October 5, 2017
Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano told Agenzia Nova that his country follows with great interest the case of Egyptian lawyer Ibrahim Metwally, and he asked his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shokry to find quick solution for Metwally’s case.
Alfano discussed with Shokry the recent disappearance on September 10th of Metwaly, the lawyer representing the family of Giulio Regeni, the Italian student tortured and murdered in Egypt last year.
Italy’s top diplomat said he made “A phone call on this case with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shokry after the provisional detention in jail extended by another 15 days for the activist.”
“I have stressed to Minister Shokry the request that this case be resolved as soon as possible,” he said, adding that “I will make a new call with Minister Shokry in the coming hours to see what has happened”
Metwaly was arrested on September 10 at the Cairo Airport en route to Geneva to participate in a session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Metwaly has been accused of “conspiracy with a UN director, according to his defense attorney Ezzat Ghoneim.
Metwaly is coordinator of Egypt’s Families of Forcibly Disappeared group that work on cases of those forcibly disappeared, including journalists and media professionals. His son is forcibly disappeared since July 8, 2013, directly after the military coup in Egypt.
