PROBABLY HE WOULD LIKE ‘ONE INCLUSIVE MEDIA SYSTEM’ AS WELL.

Terrorist atrocities happen in Egypt with unsettling regularity as the Palm Sunday bombings demonstrate. In 2015, ISIL also claimed responsibility for bringing down a Russian passenger airliner over Sinai, with 213 deaths. Journalists have reported a common remark uttered in Cairo: “At least we are not Iraq or Syria.”

Sisi, defending his policies, says, “We don’t have the luxury to fight and feud.” He says all political parties in Egypt should join as “one inclusive coalition.” Probably he would like “one inclusive media system” as well. Sisi closed down the pro-Brotherhood media outlets when the Brotherhood was branded as terrorist. The private media play the president’s game, and when they break ranks they find their editors arrested. Three journalists for Al Jazeera, the Qatari television network, were jailed for allegedly harming national security.

Under Sisi, the terrorism law makes it a crime to seek to “harm the national interest” or “compromise national unity,” two provisions that in themselves make genuine journalism impossible.

Human Rights Watch believes Sisi’s government flagrantly abuses human rights through mass detentions, military trials of civilians and hundreds of death sentences. “Sisi has provided near total impunity for security force abuses and issued a raft of laws that severely curtailed civil and political rights, effectively erasing the human rights gains of the 2011 uprising that ousted the longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak.”

The case of Giulio Regeni reveals the police-state atmosphere that Sisi’s government has created. Regeni was an Italian working on his PhD at Cambridge University. He was in Cairo, conducting research on the independent labour unions of Egypt. In January, 2016, he was abducted and tortured to death. His mutilated corpse was found in a ditch on the outskirts of Cairo. He had suffered from many broken bones, stab wounds from an ice pick, a brain hemorrhage and a broken cervical vertebra. He was apparently tortured for days.

He may have been abducted by a criminal gang specializing in foreigners, or by elements of the Muslim Brotherhood hoping to embarrass the Egyptian government, two explanations that were officially mentioned. But because of his labour research and his leftwing political views, Egyptian police have been suspected of involvement. On April 21, 2016 Reuters reported that three Egyptian intelligence officials and three police sources independently claimed he was in police custody before his death.

His murder created widespread anger. More than 4,600 academics signed a petition asking that his death be investigated. Amnesty International launched a Truth about Giulio Regeni campaign. An online petition started by Change. org received more than 100,000 signatures. The European Parliament in Strasbourg condemned his torture and killing. Italy, having started its own investigation, recalled its ambassador from Cairo because Egyptian authorities didn’t co-operate.

In January, 2017, the first anniversary of his disappearance, thousands of people gathered to remember him in Rome, Milan and elsewhere in Italy. The Economist ran a story headed, “When Egypt investigates tragedy, don’t expect results.”

Last week Regeni’s parents held a press conference in Rome to broadcast their belief that Egyptian security officials were responsible for their son’s death. They also asked Pope Francis to raise the issue with Sisi during his forthcoming visit to Egypt. Their lawyer said they had identified two highranking Egyptian officials said to be implicated, but declined to name them.