CAIRO (AP) — A Cairo 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.

Ahmed Abdullah, the head of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, was arrested at his suburban home on April 25 and stands accused of inciting revolt and terrorism. His detention came on the day over two thousand Egyptians gathered in central Cairo in defiance of a protest ban to denounce President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's transfer of two islands to Saudi Arabia.

Abdullah entered the courtroom carrying a note on a small piece of origami that read that in Arabic "truth for Regeni," saying that he would not stop seeking justice in the case. A fight broke out between bailiffs and lawyers in the chaotic chamber when activists tried to photograph Abdullah, with police confiscating phones temporarily to delete the photos.

Lawyers from Abdullah's NGO had offered assistance to the lawyers of the family of Giulio Regeni. The doctoral student was abducted, tortured and killed in Cairo earlier this year when the city was on police lockdown to prevent protests on the anniversary of Egypt's 2011 uprising that overthrew longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

Regeni's parents have said they were distraught over Abdullah's arrest. Their son's killing has poisoned Egypt's close relations with Italy, and prompted accusations that security services were involved. Egypt has repeatedly denied this, and the Interior Ministry has suggested five members of a gang it killed were responsible, releasing photos of Regeni's IDs it said was found at a gang member's relative's house.

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.

The diplomats at Saturday's hearing in Cairo's northern Abbaseya district, from Italy and Britain, had clearly identified themselves. Hours later, there was no word on the decision and Abdullah was removed from the courtroom, where he had been held in a cage with some 30 other defendants.

Italian investigators arrived in Cairo Saturday to follow up on the Regeni case, with Italian daily La Repubblica reporting that they were seeking additional documents and other evidence including some phone records not turned over during previous meetings.

Associated Press writer Colleen Barry in Rome contributed to this report.