Posted on 07/05/2006 5:43:40 PM PDT by blam
Italian spy chiefs held over investigation into CIA rendition of terror suspect
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
(Filed: 06/07/2006)
Two Italian spy chiefs were arrested yesterday on suspicion of helping the CIA to snatch an imam in Milan and fly him out of the country.
Marco Mancini, the head of counter-espionage at the military intelligence agency Sismi, and Gustavo Pignero, the agency's chief official in the north of the country, were placed under investigation to examine whether they will face kidnapping charges.
They are suspected of assisting American agents three years ago when they abducted Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, who was alleged to have links to terrorism.
The government of the former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, repeatedly denied that the Italian state had any involvement in the CIA''rendition'' of the terrorist suspect.
But the judiciary has been flexing its muscles since Mr Berlusconi's defeat in elections in April, and emboldened magistrates have launched a series of high-profile cases.
Prosecutors in Milan, who ordered the arrests, also issued warrants for four Americans for their alleged role in smuggling Nasr out of Italy in 2003. They said that he was bundled into a van and taken to the Aviano air base, from where he was flown to Germany and then on to his native Egypt.
Nasr has claimed that he was tortured during his interrogation.
Investigating magistrates have already named 22 Americans they wish to question, though they are believed to have left the country.
Mr Berlusconi recently told his supporters that they "do not have to take the new judicial siege lying down". He repeated his claim that the Italian legal system is driven by people who want to "destabilise" his party and damage him.
But since April at least six major scandals have been revealed, after Romano Prodi's government promised prosecutors would have complete independence.
These European idiots had better wake up. They should be praised instead of arrested/ Sad
It would seem the Italians have gone over to the other side. Remember: They worked with Hitler too.
The European Union of Soviet Socialist Republics continues to kill itself.
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