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Italy's traditional Labour Day concert in Rome paid tribute to Italian student Giulio Regeni, who was tortured and murdered by suspected Egyptian security officials, earlier this year.

In a concert attended by over 800,000 people in Rome's San Giovanni Square, popular artists such as Max Gazze dedicated their performances to the 28-year-old PhD researcher.

Regeni was researching Egypt's trade unions when he went missing in a heavily policed part of downtown Cairo on the fifth anniversary of the 2011 uprising that overthrew veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

His mutilated body was found a week later at the side of a road on Cairo's outskirts. Analysts suggesting he died at the hands of security services during an interrogation.

The Egyptian government has strongly denied the accusations but their account of what happened is coming under continued scrutiny.

Regini's death continues to strain relations between Italy and Egypt. Cairo has been accused of not working with Italian police and showing a lack of transparency in their investigation.

Earlier this month, Italy recalled its ambassador to Egypt due to a lack of progress in finding those responsible for Regeni's death.

'Basic right to organise'

On the same day, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a statement urging Egypt to legalise independent trade unions and end the 'decades-old' single "official" union system.

The May Day statement also encouraged Egypt to allow free and fair elections to union boards for the first time since the country's 2011 uprising.

"Egypt's government is ignoring the basic right of workers to organise independently," said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director.

"The government seems intent on stifling the freedom Egypt's labour movement only gained after years of struggle that culminated in the 2011 uprising."

The government seems intent on stifling the freedom Egypt's labour movement only gained after years of struggle that culminated in the 2011 uprising. - Nadim Houry

Houry added that protecting workers' rights to independently organise was "not a luxury".

"Egypt needs economic development for all, but such development doesn't come with oppressing workers."

Egypt's 1976 Trade Union Law only recognises the official government-controlled unions affiliated with the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF).

Independent trade unions proliferated after the 2011 uprising, but the government has not officially recognised them, even though the 2014 constitution guarantees freedom of association.

HRW said it received a copy of the latest draft trade union law that the government had prepared between 2014 and 2015.

"The draft law would end the single union system but restrict organisations' rights in other ways, such as punishing with prison time those who establish unions without approval," the statement read.

However, the cabinet was reshuffled and the manpower minister was replaced after the drafting of the law. No final draft has been made public as of yet.

Egypt needs economic development for all, but such development doesn't come with oppressing workers. - Nadim Houry

"The failure of successive governments to amend the Trade Union Law, as well as recent decisions by the cabinet and interior ministry to stop dealing with the de-facto independent unions, have led labour activists to fear that labor rights gains since 2011 are facing erosion."

This year's Labour Day came amid tensions between trade unions and the government over a disputed set of legislations.

This includes the Civil Service law, the Health Insurance law, and legislations that restrict self-organisation for labour.

A wave of workers' strikes that began in 2006 by textile workers in Egypt's industrial city of Mahalla shaped the build-up to the 2011 uprising.

In April 2008, the Mahallah textile workers had planned another strike to protest the increased cost of living and low wages, but it was thwarted, pushing the workers to take to the streets and clash with security forces.

Calls for solidarity led to street clashes with police and the birth of the April 6 Youth Movement, one of the groups that fuelled the January uprising.