Cambridge's current and former MPs, Daniel Zeichner and Julian Huppert, have both welcomed the announcement that the Egyptian authorities will be re-opening the investigation into the death of Giulio Regeni.

Both expressed scepticism at the verdict reached by Egypt’s Interior Ministry, which claimed that Regeni’s killers had been found after four men were shot dead in an apartment raid where the Girton PhD student’s belongings were found.

The move comes following vocal opposition to the Egyptian Interior Ministry’s version of events, including from Regeni’s family, who said they were “hurt and bitter” at what they characterised as “misdirection”. Italian prosecutors have said that the evidence presented by the Egyptian authorities was “not adequate”.

Their comments also follow nearly 5,000 academics signing a petition calling for an investigation into his death and into the many disappearances which take place in Egypt on a monthly basis, in addition to petitions calling for #JusticeForGiulio and urging the British government to ensure that a proper investigation is carried out.

These petitions have gained in excess of 100,000 and over 8,000 signatures respectively.

Zeichner said that he “share[s] the scepticism of the Italian government and Giulio’s family about the most recent explanation offered by the Egyptian authorities”, adding that he was “pleased that they have been forced into reopening investigations.”

He said that “the Italian government is being far more effective [than the British government]” and that “[f]riends and colleagues of Giulio in Cambridge rightly expect the UK government to be doing more – and they should be.”

Julian Huppert, now a member of the same university department to which Regeni had been attached, stated that “[i]t’s really important that we get to the bottom of what happened to Giulio, both so his family can know the facts, and also so the action can be taken to see that this strategy doesn’t happen to other people.”

He continued: “Many are sceptical of the story from the Egyptian government, and hence want a full independent investigation, so that the facts are clear.”

Dr Anne Alexander, Co-ordinator of the Cambridge Digital Humanities Network, also spoke out against the Egyptian government's handling of the case, stating that the "Egyptian authorities' claims to have discovered and killed the people who are alleged to have kidnapped and murdered Giulio are both implausible and deeply worrying.

"The idea that a group of criminals would keep any of Giulio's possessions for nearly two months after his body was discovered so that they could be conveniently discovered during a police raid is inherently unlikely."

She added: "The fact that the alleged culprits were killed rather than being brought to trial underlines the fact that the police are rarely questioned over their violent methods, feeding into a general climate of impunity for state repression."