ROME: Italy has given a green light to the sale of two warships to Egypt, news media reported on Friday, despite tense relations between the two countries over the unresolved 2016 murder of an Italian student in Cairo.

The $1.2 billion sale of the frigates to Egypt has drawn sharp rebukes from the family of Giulio Regeni, a 28-year-old Cambridge University doctoral researcher who disappeared in Cairo in January 2016.

"This government has betrayed us," Regeni's parents, Paola and Claudio, were quoted as telling La Repubblica this week. "The limit has been reached, we will no longer allow the government to make fun of us." In a gruesome still unsolved case, Regeni's body was found bearing extensive signs of torture. The case strained the traditionally close relations between Cairo and Rome, which accused Egypt of insufficient cooperation in the investigation. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte sought to defend the government's decision to sell the warships, built by Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri.