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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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February 1st,
2010 - Italy’s Secret Service Knew of CIA Rendition: Judge |
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Italy’s Secret
Service Knew of CIA Rendition: Judge By Daniel Flynn Reuters February 1, 2010 Milan - An Italian judge
said on Monday that Italy's secret services knew about the CIA's kidnapping
of a terrorism suspect in Milan seven years ago, despite Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi's denial of any Italian involvement. Judge Oscar Magi, who in
November sentenced 23 Americans in absentia to up to eight years in prison
for the 2003 kidnapping, said in an explanation of his landmark ruling that
Italian spy chiefs were informed of, and possibly complicit in, the abduction
of Egyptian-born cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr. His verdict last year was
the first of its kind against the "rendition" flights practiced by
the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush, which have been
condemned by civil society groups as a violation of basic human rights. Nasr, known as "Abu
Omar," was flown to Egypt for interrogation, where he said he was
tortured and held until 2007 without charge. "The authorization to
act on national territory by the highest level of U.S. intelligence leads one
to presume this was carried out with the knowledge (and perhaps the
complicity) of their Italian equivalents," Magi said in his ruling,
which was only released on Monday under Italian legal practices. The judge, who was forced to
drop charges against five former Italian spies under state secrecy rules,
said secret services should not be shielded from responsibility for crimes
simply because of the involvement of foreign governments. Black Veil "This means, in simple
terms, that they can enjoy an absolute immunity in both real and judicial
terms," Magi said. The judge said that the
Constitutional Court's decision to impose state secrecy rules in the case had
drawn a "black veil" over the activities of the Italian secret
service. In response to the ruling,
Public Prosecutor Armando Spataro said he was considering whether to appeal
against the dismissal of the case against the five Italians and three
American defendants, who enjoyed diplomatic immunity. Abu Omar, talking to Italian
news agency Ansa in Cairo, said he would write to Berlusconi and U.S.
President Barack Obama to notify them he was willing to drop a civil case in
Italy seeking damages of $10 million. He also thanked Magi for his ruling. "This could reopen the
case ... It could force the arrest of important people whose names have been
protected by state secret," he said. The toughest sentence of
eight years in prison was given to the former head of the CIA's Milan
station, Robert Seldon Lady, while 21 ex-CIA agents got five years each, as
did a U.S. air force lieutenant colonel. With Washington refusing to
extradite any of the Americans, the ruling was a symbolic condemnation, but
was welcomed by rights groups. The U.S. State Department
expressed its disappointment at November's verdict while Berlusconi, who was
in power at the time of the kidnapping, said it could tarnish Italy's
international reputation. Writing by Daniel Flynn;
editing by Ralph Boulton. External link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6102ZQ20100201 Judge Ties
Italy Secret Service to Cleric’s Abduction By Rachel Donadio New York Times February 1, 2010 Rome - The Italian secret
service was most likely aware of, “and perhaps complicit in,” the abduction
of an Egyptian cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003, a judge in Milan
said Monday. But, he added, state secrecy prevented the court from proving
this. The statement by the judge,
Oscar Magi, was part of a 200-page document explaining his reasoning behind
the landmark November ruling that convicted 23 Americans, most of them
Central Intelligence Agency operatives, of kidnapping the cleric. It was the
first case to yield convictions in the practice of “extraordinary rendition,”
in which terrorism suspects are captured in one country and taken to another,
where they may be subjected to coercive interrogation techniques. Judge Magi convicted a
former C.I.A. base chief and 22 other Americans of kidnapping in the
abduction of an Egyptian cleric, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as
Abu Omar, on Feb. 17, 2003. Prosecutors said the cleric was taken from Milan
in broad daylight and flown from an American air base in Italy to a base in
Germany and then on to Egypt, where Mr. Nasr asserts he was tortured. Judge Magi wrote that the
fact that the C.I.A. had conducted the operation on Italian soil with such
impunity “leads to the presumption that such activity was carried out at
least with the knowledge (or maybe with the complicity)” of the Italian
secret service. But he added that it was
“not possible” to prove those ties because of a decision last March by
Italy’s Constitutional Court, which ruled that any evidence of contact
between the Italian secret service and the C.I.A. was covered by state
secrecy and therefore inadmissible in the trial. In his reasoning, Judge Magi
said this had created a kind of “black curtain” over crucial parts of the
trial. He criticized the Constitutional Court ruling as having created “a
logical and juridical paradox.” Judge Magi acquitted three
Americans, citing diplomatic immunity, and two Italians, citing state
secrecy. Tried in absentia, the other 23 Americans are considered fugitives
and are sought under a European Union arrest warrant. Through their lawyers,
they pleaded not guilty. The Italian government is
not expected to request extradition of the Americans, who are not expected to
serve jail time. Still, the case marked the first time a judge in an allied
country had placed C.I.A. agents on trial. The trial shed some light on
the darker recesses of American counterintelligence operations. At the time
of his abduction Mr. Nasr was under surveillance by the Italian authorities,
who suspected him of recruiting militants from his Milan mosque. He was missing for a year, until
he resurfaced in Egypt and called his wife in Italy to say he had been
tortured. The call activated Italian prosecutors, who are required to
investigate if there is the possibility of a crime. Prosecutors reconstructed
Mr. Nasr’s disappearance using cellphone records traced to the American
agents. In what was widely seen as a bungled and sloppy operation, the
operatives used false names but left a paper trail of unencrypted phone
records and credit card bills at luxury hotels in Milan. That the trial reached a
ruling even after the Constitutional Court verdict radically narrowed its
scope was a testament to the persistence of the judge and the veteran
counterterrorism prosecutor Armando Spataro, who brought the case. Judge Magi wrote that in 30
years as a penal judge, he had “very rarely” heard testimony “so precise,
attentive and correct regarding such difficult and serious investigations,”
adding that he had never seen a penal trial in which events had been
reconstructed with such “certainty” and “such a degree of authority.” Both sides have 45 days from
Monday to decide whether to appeal. Mr. Spataro said it was
“very probable” that he would appeal. Arianna Barbazza, a court-appointed
lawyer for 13 of the convicted Americans, who has never met her clients, said
she would “absolutely” appeal the ruling. Copyright 2010 The New York
Times Company External link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/world/europe/02italy.html |