Giulio Regeni

CAIRO — The body of an Italian student who went missing in Cairo was found half naked by the roadside with cigarette burns and other signs of torture, a senior Egyptian prosecutor said on Thursday.

In Rome, Italy’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Egyptian ambassador to express concern over the death of Giulio Regeni, who disappeared on Jan. 25, the fifth anniversary of the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

The body of the 28-year-old Cambridge University doctoral student has been taken to a Cairo morgue, a morgue worker and Egyptian security officials said.

The officials said an investigation had begun. Italy is demanding to take part in the investigation.

Last year, ISIS militants kidnapped a Croatian man from the outskirts of Cairo and later beheaded him, but such incidents are rare and there was a heavy police presence in downtown Cairo when Regeni went missing.

Although the cause of death is still unclear, Regeni’s case could hurt Egypt’s efforts to project an image of stability and attract more tourism and foreign investment after years of political turmoil and extremist militant violence.