Followed by discussion

The 25 of January is the anniversary of Giulio Regeni disappearance in the streets of Cairo. Already two years have passed without Giulio and still no significant progress was made in the search for the truth. In Italy big yellow flags that call for “Verità per Giulio” (truth for Giulio) still fly outside municipal buildings and homes whilst in Egypt the lawyer investigating the murder of Giulio is facing prosecution and up to five years in prison for “managing an illegal group, spreading false news … [and] cooperating with foreign organisations”. The European Parliament remained at the non-binding resolution condemning human rights violations and abuses taking place in Egypt but it’s doing nothing to enforce it and Italy’s Foreign Minister makes fun of himself and of the Italian citizens by sending a new ambassador “to allow for closer collaboration on investigations”. And Britain? Nothing, not a word because….”why the UK government should care about the death of an Italian citizen”?

The reality is distressing but we can’t give up expressing solidarity with Giulio’s family and friends and continuing voicing their call for the truth and the quest to bring Giulio’s killers to justice.In 2018 La Giovane Italia will continue taking the investigative documentary "9 days in Cairo - Torture and Murder of Giulio Regeni" in a tour across the UK.After London, Edinburgh and Cambridge the documentary will be screened the 24th of January 2018 in Oxford and the 8th of February in Manchester.After the screening, a panel of key human rights activists and leading social movement academics will discuss with the audience the case and the questions about transnational rights activism in a world of globalised governance.Film-makers Carlo Bonini and Giuliano Foschini, reporters from La Repubblica, will also join us in the discussion following the film.

About the speakers:

Hannah Elsisi is a doctoral candidate in History at Merton College, Oxford University. Her work traces the  historical origins and development of post-colonial political incarceration in Egypt based on archival research in Aix-en-Provence, Kew, Jerusalem, Amsterdam and Cairo as well oral history interviews, cultural production and autobiography. Her research interests and undergraduate teaching include Middle-east history, histories of capitalism, working class autobiography and carceral, post-colonial and queer theory. 

Federico Varese is a Professor of Criminology at the University of Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow at Nuffield College, Oxford. He has written on the Russian mafia, Soviet criminal history, migration of mafia groups, Somali piracy, the dynamics of altruistic behaviour, and the application of Social Network Analysis to criminology. His new book, Mafia Life (June 2017) is being translated into seven languages and has been optioned for TV.

Hugh Sandeman is the Egypt Coordinator for Amnesty International UK, and works on Amnesty campaigns that support people in Egypt who are fighting to restore their rights.