Italian magistrates investigating the murder of Giulio Regeni, the Cambridge University doctoral student tortured and killed in Cairo two years ago, have seized the computer and mobile phone of his tutor, Maha Abdelrahman.
Prosecutors confirmed that Abdelrahman agreed to be questioned in Cambridge on Tuesday. The following day, a team from Rome, supported by British authorities, searched her home and office, taking a computer, hard disk, USB key, phone, and unspecified documents.
In a statement, prosecutors said the seizure "will be useful to bring definitive clarity, in an unequivocal and objective way, to the role of the tutor in consideration of the investigation." There is no suggestion that Abdelrahman was involved in Regeni's death, but investigators have sought to establish whether she put him in harm's way by his choice of research subject.
A senior legal source in Rome said Abdelrahman told magistrates that Regeni had chosen his own research topic, shedding no new light on the case, which was described as "disappointing." Regeni had been researching Egypt's independent trade unions, attracting the suspicion of the Cairo government before his disappearance in January 2016. His disfigured body was found over a week later. Egyptian officials deny involvement.
Cambridge University has not commented. Abdelrahman, who is Egyptian, has not spoken publicly about the death and took a leave of absence after the killing. The murder has strained relations between Italy and Egypt.
