Italy’s double standards: the Regeni and Abu Omar cases reveal a contradictory approach to human rights

The torture and murder of Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni in Egypt has reignited deep concerns about the treatment of human rights in the Middle East. Andrea Lorenzo Capussela contrasts the tragic event with another case just considered by the European Court of Human Rights: the abduction in 2003 of the Egyptian Muslim cleric Abu Omar by the CIA in Milan, with the complicity of Italian agents. He argues that the Italian government should now waive state-secrecy concerns and allow its agents to be tried in order to encourage Egypt to show the same level of openness in the Regeni case.