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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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March 10th,
2009 - Italy’s Highest Court Hears CIA Kidnap Arguments |
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Italy’s Highest Court Hears
CIA Kidnap Arguments From the Associated Press March 10, 2009 Rome - Italy's highest court
heard arguments Tuesday on a government motion to throw out charges against
26 Americans accused of involvement in the alleged CIA kidnapping of a terror
suspect in Milan. The government has argued
that the Milan judge who issued the indictments unlawfully relied on
classified information to justify them. The court was expected to
begin deliberations Wednesday, after adjourning the closed-door hearing
Tuesday. It was not clear when a verdict would be issued, officials said. The trial in Milan was
suspended until March 18 pending the ruling by the Constitutional Court,
which has delayed a decision several times. The American suspects - all
but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents - are being tried in
absentia. They are accused of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect from a
Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003 in an "extraordinary rendition"
operation coordinated by the CIA and Italian intelligence. Seven Italians are also
charged. The Italian government denies any role in the operation. Italian prosecutors say
Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was then transferred to
U.S. bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where he was
imprisoned for four years. Nasr, who has been released, said he was tortured. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iM_YyWi9inE9T_InTSAg1w3qlraAD96RCMAO0 Italy high court to rule on
CIA kidnap case By Phil Stewart Reuters March 10, 2009 Rome - Lawyers for the
Italian state began arguments to the Constitutional Court Tuesday to try to
get a case against U.S. and Italian spies accused of kidnapping a terrorism
suspect thrown out. Twenty-six Americans and
seven Italians are accused of grabbing a Muslim imam off the streets of Milan
and flying him to Egypt in 2003. Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu
Omar, says he was tortured and held for years without charge. Human rights groups accuse
Washington and its allies of breaking international law with the
extrajudicial transfers, known as "renditions." The Italian government,
while denying any state role in Nasr's disappearance, says prosecutors broke
state secrecy rules when building their case, which is before a lower criminal
court. This includes wiretapping
spies and questioning them on classified matters, such as relations with the
CIA. "If the government's
position is upheld by the Constitutional Court, certain evidence will become
impossible to use," Ignazio Francesco Caramazza, who is arguing the
state's position, told Reuters ahead of the closed-door hearings. Caramazza said the state
wants the court to annul the trial as a result, since the indictments were
based at least partly on that evidence. Prosecutors must rebuild their case,
he said. Caramazza said the state did
not oppose any future trial, as long as state secrecy rules were respected. A lawyer who will represent
prosecutors before the court said he would argue that the no state secrecy
rules were broken during the kidnapping investigation. But he acknowledged that a
ruling in favor of the state could send prosecutors back to the phase of
collecting evidence and seeking indictments. "If that were the case,
the decree ordering a trial would be annulled. One would have to start over
again," Alessandro Pace, who will argue on behalf of prosecutors, told
Reuters. A verdict following the
closed-door proceedings could arrive late Tuesday, but, given the complexity
of the case, observers say a decision could take days. The U.S. suspects are being
tried in absentia. Washington has defended
renditions as a valid counter-terrorism tool that has produced vital
intelligence and rejected accusations that it allowed torture. The new CIA director under
U.S. President Barack Obama has said rendition is still permitted, subject to
assurances suspects would be treated humanely. In the Milan case, Nasr says
he was subjected to electric shock, beatings and rape threats. The
Egyptian-born imam, who was released from Egyptian custody in 2007, faces an
arrest warrant in Italy on suspicion of terrorist activity. © Thomson Reuters 2008. All
rights reserved. External link: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5295HO20090310 |