Four high-level Egyptian security officials are going on trial in a Rome court, accused in the 2016 abduction, torture and slaying of an Italian doctoral student in Cairo. Tuesday's opening hearing marks the second time the four Egyptians went on trial in absentia: In 2021, a Rome judge halted the trial on the day it opened, arguing there was no certainty that the defendants had been officially informed that they were charged in the death of Giulio Regeni. In September, Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that the trial could go ahead even if the four hadn’t received official notification, because Egyptian authorities had refused to provide addresses for them.
A leading human rights group dismissed on Thursday the conviction of a prominent Egyptian political activist as an act of retaliation for his decision to challenge President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in last year’s presidential election. On Tuesday, a Cairo misdemeanor court sentenced former presidential hopeful Ahmed Altantawy, along with 22 of his aides, including his campaign manager, to one year in prison on grounds of disseminating un-authortized endorsement forms for his candidacy. The New York City-based group urged the Egyptian authorities to drop all charges immediately.
Eighty-one seriously wounded Palestinians and 360 foreign passport holders left Gaza on Wednesday, 1 November through the Rafah border checkpoint. Source: CNN, citing an unnamed Egyptian government official, as they are not allowed to speak to the media Details: The official said people were now heading to Cairo, where some would fly back to their home countries.
France will send a second French helicopter carrier off the coast of Gaza as it works with Israeli and Egyptian authorities to find a way to provide medical assistance to people affected by the bombings in the besieged area. Paris has already sent the Tonnerre carrier to the eastern Mediterranean on what President Emmanuel Macron described as a mission to support Gaza hospitals. Egypt this week began admitting limited numbers of wounded across its Gaza border.
Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have begun preparations for the evacuation of Ukrainians from the Gaza Strip after the Egyptian authorities allowed foreigners to leave through the Rafah checkpoint.