Egyptian prosecutor-general Nabil Sadek has ordered the prosecution's International Cooperation Office to prepare an official request to Italian judicial authorities for the results of investigations into the death of an Egyptian citizen in a Sicilian prison last week.

According to news reports, the 1987- born Hany El-Sayed Mohamed – who had entered Italy illegally – committed suicide according to Italian authorities

On Sunday, Egypt's foreign ministry instructed the Egyptian embassy in Rome to follow up on the case and called on Italian authorities to keep Egypt informed on the results of the investigation.

In 2014, an Italian court sentenced El-Sayed to four years in prison for assaulting a police officer, according to news reports. El-Sayed, who had one year remaining on his sentence, died one day after a judge denied his request that he be deported to Egypt.

Egyptian-Italian relations have been strained since Italian PhD student Giulio Regeni was tortured and killed in Cairo in early 2016.