World

Italy Convicts CIA Rendition Agents

by Barbara McPherson | November 4, 2009 at 03:09 pm

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In a world first a court in Italy convicted 23 US CIA rendition agents. They were accused of kidnapping Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr from a street in Milan. The court convicted them of flying him to Germany and then to Cairo where he was held for four years without charge. At the time, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr had been granted politial asylum in Italy.

An Italian judge has convicted 23 US secret agents over the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian imam from a Milan street in an extraordinary rendition by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The trial was the first in the world to centre on the agency's controversial programme, in which "terror" suspects are thought to have been transferred to countries known to practise torture.

Two Italians involved in the kidnapping were sentenced to three years in prison. The Americans were tried in absentia, having fled the country. Twenty-two were handed five year sentences and the Milan CIA station chief given an eight year term.

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Babel-Fish

at 16:40 on November 4th, 2009

well it looks like Italy does not support USA's war on terror

Roy C

at 17:48 on November 4th, 2009

Would they have convicted the Israeli agents who kidnapped Eichmann?

smkovalinsky

at 18:14 on November 4th, 2009

Indeed, they would have, Roy.

Roy C

at 18:29 on November 4th, 2009

So, you get it that this is part of the "dirty work" of life that needs doing?

Hugh Askew

at 19:28 on November 4th, 2009

Let us hope the Italians never get people blown up by Nasr buddies.

snuffysmith

at 20:00 on November 4th, 2009

Italian Court Sentences 23 CIA Agents Over Rendition Flight

By Richard Owen in Rome

The Americans were all tried in absentia, but the verdicts were nevertheless hailed by human rights campaigners as an important victory that could open the way to further prosecutions. Two lower-ranking agents of the Italian military agency SISMI were sentenced to three years each. Continue