Friday, February 16, 2007

BBC NEWS | Europe | Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial

BBC NEWS | Europe | Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial

Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial
An Italian judge has ordered 26 US citizens - most of them CIA agents - to stand trial over the kidnap of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.
Osama Mustafa Hassan was allegedly seized by the CIA and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

Seven Italians were also indicted, including Italy's ex-military intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari.

The case would be the first criminal trial over the secret US practice known as "extraordinary rendition".

During rendition, people suspected of involvement in terror activities are taken from one country and flown to another, where many claim they are tortured.

Extradition decision

Most of the indicted US citizens are believed to have returned home from Italy.

The Italian government has yet to decide whether or not it wishes to request their extradition.





Prime Minister Romano Prodi is coming under renewed pressure to do so at a time when Italian-US relations are sticky at best, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome.
The US has never commented on the case.

Those indicted include the former station chief of CIA operations in Milan, Robert Seldon Lady, who says his opposition to the proposal to kidnap the imam was over-ruled.

He is reported to be among those who have returned to the US, leaving behind a villa in Italy which he bought with his life savings.

Mr Pollari, the former head of the Italian secret service, SISMI, had already been removed from his job following a parliamentary inquiry into the claims.

Of the seven Italians who were charged, six were charged with abduction and one is accused of withholding information on abductions.

Lawyers say they have compiled thousands of pages of documents and testimony from Italian agents past and present, some of whom have acknowledged working with the US in planning the abduction.

The trial is due to begin on 8 June.

Torture claims

Mr Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, was released from prison in Egypt only on Sunday.

He says that he was repeatedly beaten and tortured during his four years of detention in Cairo.

He described one form of torture in which he was forced to lie on a wet mattress through which an electric current was passed.

Mr Hassan still faces the risk of arrest as a terror suspect if he returns to Italy, our correspondent says, but his lawyer has said that he wishes to come to Milan nonetheless to testify during the trial.

On Wednesday, EU lawmakers endorsed a damning report accusing some member states of turning a blind eye to rendition, naming Italy as one of the countries involved.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6368269.stm

Published: 2007/02/16 16:51:35 GMT

BBC NEWS | Europe | Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial

BBC NEWS | Europe | Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial

Italy orders CIA kidnapping trial
An Italian judge has ordered 26 US citizens - most of them CIA agents - to stand trial over the kidnap of an Egyptian cleric in Milan in 2003.
Osama Mustafa Hassan was allegedly seized by the CIA and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

Seven Italians were also indicted, including Italy's ex-military intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari.

The case would be the first criminal trial over the secret US practice known as "extraordinary rendition".

During rendition, people suspected of involvement in terror activities are taken from one country and flown to another, where many claim they are tortured.

Extradition decision

Most of the indicted US citizens are believed to have returned home from Italy.

The Italian government has yet to decide whether or not it wishes to request their extradition.





Prime Minister Romano Prodi is coming under renewed pressure to do so at a time when Italian-US relations are sticky at best, says the BBC's Christian Fraser in Rome.
The US has never commented on the case.

Those indicted include the former station chief of CIA operations in Milan, Robert Seldon Lady, who says his opposition to the proposal to kidnap the imam was over-ruled.

He is reported to be among those who have returned to the US, leaving behind a villa in Italy which he bought with his life savings.

Mr Pollari, the former head of the Italian secret service, SISMI, had already been removed from his job following a parliamentary inquiry into the claims.

Of the seven Italians who were charged, six were charged with abduction and one is accused of withholding information on abductions.

Lawyers say they have compiled thousands of pages of documents and testimony from Italian agents past and present, some of whom have acknowledged working with the US in planning the abduction.

The trial is due to begin on 8 June.

Torture claims

Mr Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, was released from prison in Egypt only on Sunday.

He says that he was repeatedly beaten and tortured during his four years of detention in Cairo.

He described one form of torture in which he was forced to lie on a wet mattress through which an electric current was passed.

Mr Hassan still faces the risk of arrest as a terror suspect if he returns to Italy, our correspondent says, but his lawyer has said that he wishes to come to Milan nonetheless to testify during the trial.

On Wednesday, EU lawmakers endorsed a damning report accusing some member states of turning a blind eye to rendition, naming Italy as one of the countries involved.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/6368269.stm

Published: 2007/02/16 16:51:35 GMT

Lou Dobbs vs the CFR

Al Qaeda leader in Iraq may not have been injured


ctv.ca
A new statement from an Iraqi army officer is casting doubt on reports that the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was wounded in clashes.

On Thursday, an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesperson said Abu Ayyub al-Masri was wounded and his aide, identified as Abu Abdullah al-Majemaai, was killed.

However, the army officer said Friday that al-Majemaai had been detained on Feb. 9 and was in custody in a jail near Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad.

The officer said he could not comment on the location of al-Masri.

The claim seems to contradict those made by Brig. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf on Thursday when he told Al Arabiya television that al-Masri was wounded and al-Majemaai was killed in a clash with Iraqi forces.

There was no report on the incident from U.S. authorities, and Khalaf declined to say how Iraqi forces knew al-Masri had been injured.

Al-Masri, an Egyptian, took over the leadership of al Qaeda in Iraq after its charismatic leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. air strike last June in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad.

The United States has put a US$5 million bounty on al-Masri's head.

The U.S. military has described him as a close Zarqawi associate who formed al Qaeda's first cell in Baghdad.

In October, false reports surfaced that al-Masri was killed in a raid, and the U.S. military performed DNA tests on a slain militant to see if he was the al Qaeda leader.

With files from The Associated Press

CIA contacted Italy about renditions after 9/11: testimony

[JURIST] The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) [official website] contacted Italian intelligence about the possibility of performing extraordinary renditions [JURIST news archive] in the days following the September 11 attacks, according to testimony during Italian judicial proceedings against US and Italian agents on Thursday. The proceedings center around the alleged 2003 kidnapping [JURIST news archive; WP timeline] and extraordinary rendition of Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile]. Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, says he was tortured after being grabbed off a street in Milan and ultimately sent to Egypt. Hearings [JURIST report] to decide the legal fate of some 30 operatives started last month after a December request by Italian prosecutors that Judge Caterina Interlandi issue indictments [JURIST report] against 26 CIA agents and five officials from the Italian Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official website], including former SISMI chief Nicola Pollari. Officials in Switzerland said Wednesday that they are launching a criminal probe [JURIST report] into the alleged unlawful use of Swiss airspace by US agents to transport Omar from Milan to Germany.

In October, Italian prosecutors said they had completed their investigation [JURIST report] into the incident and would once again press for the extradition of the 26 American agents [JURIST report] believed to be involved in the case. If extradition is denied, Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro has said he would be forced to try the US agents in absentia [JURIST report]. A judicial decision is expected Friday on whether to indict the American and Italian agents for kidnapping. Reuters has more.