Abu Omar was kidnapped from the streets of Madrid in daylight and extradited to Egypt Italian prosecutors on Tuesday requested a judge indict CIA agents and their Italian counterparts for kidnapping a terrorism suspect in 2003 and flying him to Egypt.
Here are details on the case, which could become the first-ever criminal trial over so-called CIA "renditions", one of the most controversial aspects of U.S. President George W. Bush's war on terrorism.
Who Are The Suspects?
Twenty-six Americans, most believed to be CIA agents. They include the former head of the CIA in Italy, the CIA station chief in Milan and the head of security at the U.S. military air base in Aviano in northern Italy.
They also want to try Italy's former spy chief Nicolo Pollari along with four members of his SISMI military intelligence agency and Italian police officer Luciano Pironi.
What Are The Accusations?
Prosecutors say a CIA-led team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, a Muslim cleric also known as Abu Omar, off a Milan street on Feb. 17 2003, pulled him into a van and drove him to the Aviano base. From there, they flew him to Ramstein, Germany and then continued to Egypt.
Once in Egypt, Abu Omar said he was tortured with electric shocks, beatings, rape threats and genital abuse. His lawyer says he is still being held without charges in a prison near Cairo.
What Do The United States & Italy Say?
The United States has never directly responded to the Milan prosecutors' accusations. The U.S. government acknowledges secret transfers of terrorism suspects to third countries, but denies torturing suspects or sanctioning torture by third parties.
Italy's prime minister at the time, Silvio Berlusconi, has denied knowledge of any operation and criticized magistrates for going after Italian and American spies. The current government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi has not yet decided whether to support prosecutors' requests for extradition and has opted to keep some documents classified. It is these documents that Pollari says would prove his innocence.
What Do The Suspects Say?
Pironi, the Italian policeman, admits he stopped Abu Omar on a Milan street so the CIA team could grab him and pull him into their van. But he says the then-CIA station chief in Milan told him the goal was to recruit the Muslim cleric, not abduct him, and that the operation was jointly approved by Rome and Washington.
Pollari says he and military intelligence agency SISMI did nothing wrong but he has refused to cooperate with magistrates, saying the evidence he would need to defend himself is covered by
Italy's state secrets act.
What's Next?
A judge will call a closed-door, preliminary hearing to assess whether there is enough evidence to order a trial.
Italy's government will be under pressure to forward the prosecutors' request to Washington asking for the extradition of the Americans, who already face EU arrest warrants.
The United States is not expected to hand over its agents -- making it increasingly likely that only the Italian suspects would actually appear in court. The Americans would then be tried in absentia.
Source: CNN
* Cleric Kidnap Charges For CIA Agents
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/05/italy.cia.ap/index.html
To learn more about brother Abu's case, please visit:
http://forthesakeofallah.blogspot.com/2006/11/italian-government-implicated-in-cover_20.html
Here are details on the case, which could become the first-ever criminal trial over so-called CIA "renditions", one of the most controversial aspects of U.S. President George W. Bush's war on terrorism.
Who Are The Suspects?
Twenty-six Americans, most believed to be CIA agents. They include the former head of the CIA in Italy, the CIA station chief in Milan and the head of security at the U.S. military air base in Aviano in northern Italy.
They also want to try Italy's former spy chief Nicolo Pollari along with four members of his SISMI military intelligence agency and Italian police officer Luciano Pironi.
What Are The Accusations?
Prosecutors say a CIA-led team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, a Muslim cleric also known as Abu Omar, off a Milan street on Feb. 17 2003, pulled him into a van and drove him to the Aviano base. From there, they flew him to Ramstein, Germany and then continued to Egypt.
Once in Egypt, Abu Omar said he was tortured with electric shocks, beatings, rape threats and genital abuse. His lawyer says he is still being held without charges in a prison near Cairo.
What Do The United States & Italy Say?
The United States has never directly responded to the Milan prosecutors' accusations. The U.S. government acknowledges secret transfers of terrorism suspects to third countries, but denies torturing suspects or sanctioning torture by third parties.
Italy's prime minister at the time, Silvio Berlusconi, has denied knowledge of any operation and criticized magistrates for going after Italian and American spies. The current government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi has not yet decided whether to support prosecutors' requests for extradition and has opted to keep some documents classified. It is these documents that Pollari says would prove his innocence.
What Do The Suspects Say?
Pironi, the Italian policeman, admits he stopped Abu Omar on a Milan street so the CIA team could grab him and pull him into their van. But he says the then-CIA station chief in Milan told him the goal was to recruit the Muslim cleric, not abduct him, and that the operation was jointly approved by Rome and Washington.
Pollari says he and military intelligence agency SISMI did nothing wrong but he has refused to cooperate with magistrates, saying the evidence he would need to defend himself is covered by
Italy's state secrets act.
What's Next?
A judge will call a closed-door, preliminary hearing to assess whether there is enough evidence to order a trial.
Italy's government will be under pressure to forward the prosecutors' request to Washington asking for the extradition of the Americans, who already face EU arrest warrants.
The United States is not expected to hand over its agents -- making it increasingly likely that only the Italian suspects would actually appear in court. The Americans would then be tried in absentia.
Source: CNN
* Cleric Kidnap Charges For CIA Agents
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/05/italy.cia.ap/index.html
To learn more about brother Abu's case, please visit:
http://forthesakeofallah.blogspot.com/2006/11/italian-government-implicated-in-cover_20.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment