Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old doctoral researcher at Britain’s Cambridge University, vanished in Cairo in January 2016 before his body was found dumped by the side of the road nine days later, bearing extensive marks of torture.

Regeni’s family believe that he was killed by Egyptian authorities because of his research on the country’s politically sensitive trade union movement.

Italian prosecutors have placed under investigation five Egyptian security officials who are believed to have followed Regeni before his death.

According to local media, a new witness has come forward, claiming he overheard an Egyptian intelligence agent speaking about “the Italian guy”.

“We thought he was an English spy, we picked him up, I went and after putting him in the car we had to beat him. I myself hit him several times in the face,” the agent said, according to the Correre della Sera newspaper.

The conversation about the turbulent situation in Egypt in Arabic reportedly took place at a police convention in an unnamed African country in 2017 and was related to Italian prosecutors who have now asked Egyptian authorities for more information.   

The unnamed witness learned the Egyptian agent’s name when he exchanged business cards with a colleague, La Repubblica reported.   

He was one of the five officials Italian prosecutors said in December last year that they were investigating for involvement in the murder of Regeni.

Italian prosecutors believe the new testimony is credible and have sent it along with other details to Egyptian prosecutors, requesting in particular the agent’s whereabouts at the time of the overheard conversation in the summer of 2017.

Italy’s foreign ministry tweeted on Sunday that it “supports the Rome prosecutor’s request for information, in the strong hope that it contributes to the path of justice for Giulio Regeni”.

Egypt has always denied accusations that its security services were involved in the death of Regeni.

Egyptian authorities initially suggested Regeni died in a car accident, but later said he was killed by a criminal gang that was subsequently wiped out in a shootout with police.

Angered at the slow pace of the probe, Italy recalled its ambassador to Egypt in April 2016, but sent a replacement to Cairo the following year.