22 Purported CIA Operatives Accused of Kidnapping Imam

Tracey Wilkenson of the L.A. Times writes:

An Italian court has issued European arrest warrants for 22 purported CIA operatives accused of kidnapping a radical imam in Milan, and expanded the dragnet for the suspects to 25 countries, a prosecutor said today.

The abduction is one of several controversial cases in which American intelligence agencies are suspected of using European soil and airspace to imprison or to transport terror suspects to third countries without judicial authorization. These so-called extraordinary renditions are one of the most controversial elements of the Bush administration's efforts to fight terrorism.

The funny thing is the the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is an almost rabid Bush supporter. CIA officers in the U.S. stated that they were acting with Italian permission while he was forced to deny it.

In the Italian case, 22 CIA operatives including the Milan station chief were accused of snatching Hassan Osama Nasr, a Muslim cleric better known as Abu Omar, as he walked to a mosque in Milan nearly three years ago.

He was spirited away on a secret flight to his native Egypt where he was imprisoned and, he later told friends, tortured.

Italian prosecutors have been attempting to bring the American operatives to trial since June, when they first obtained arrest warrants for some of the suspects. Those warrants only covered Italy, however.

Lead prosecutor Armando Spataro said today that a court earlier this week issued the European arrest warrants, which means that the suspects can now be arrested in any of the European Union's 25 member states.

Seeking the European warrants comes as the Italian Justice Ministry has refused to act on a Nov. 10 request from Spataro's office for the extradition from the U.S. of the men and women who allegedly kidnapped Abu Omar.

Under bilateral conventions, an extradition request for an American citizen must go through the Justice Ministry. But Justice Minister Roberto Castelli answers to the pro-U.S. prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who has made it clear he does not want the case to advance.

Of course it won't happen. Berlusconi can't have the scandal.

Berlusconi said this week that while he did not believe the CIA had kidnapped Abu Omar, he thought such an operation was completely justifiable.

"You can't tackle terrorism with a law book in your hand," Berlusconi said. "If they fight with a sword, you have to defend yourself with a sword. ... When hundreds of thousands of lives are at risk, countries have to use the secret methods and arms available to them to defend those lives.''

Berlusconi was speaking to a group of foreign journalists that did not include U.S. newspapers. He added that he did not think there was "any basis in the [Milan] case."

The Milan prosecutors' office, which has tangled with Berlusconi on corruption and other judicial matters in the past, is feeling thwarted in its efforts to get to the bottom of the abduction.

Castelli, the justice minister, made the unusual request on Thursday of asking for all court documents related to the Abu Omar case before he decides on the extradition request. Normally, the minister rules based on administrative or diplomacy issues and does not review the evidence, prosecutors said.

"This was a very, very strange request,'' Spataro said Friday in a telephone interview from Milan. "I don't think he agrees with the extradition, but it could be a very big political problem for him in Italy.''

Not to mention the rest of Europe

The whole article can be found here:
22 Purported CIA Operatives Accused of Kidnapping Imam - Los Angeles Times