Cairo court expels diplomats from hearing on Regeni adviser

CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian appeals court expelled diplomats, journalists and family members from a hearing on Saturday over whether to extend the detention of a rights campaigner who had been advising the family of an Italian student found tortured to death in Cairo.

Egypt has repeatedly denied this, and the Interior Ministry has suggested five members of a criminal gang police killed were responsible, releasing photos of Regeni's IDs it said was found at the house of a gang member's relative.

The men's relatives say they were house painters merely heading to a job when they were killed, and witnesses have said the men were unarmed and tried to flee as police fired on them, confiscating footage from security cameras near the scene afterward.