Posted on 06/24/2005 8:24:05 AM PDT by God pays good
ROME - An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for allegedly helping deport an imam to Egypt as part of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, an Italian official familiar with the investigation said Friday.
The agents are suspected in the seizure of an Egyptian-born imam identified as Abu Omar on the streets of Milan in February 2003, according to the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
The U.S. Embassy in Rome declined to comment.
Prosecutors believe the agents seized Omar as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, in which terror suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval, according to reports Friday in newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Giorno.
Investigators traced the agents through check-in details at Milan hotels and their use of Italian cell phones during the operation, the reports said. All the agents are American and include three women, Il Giorno said.
The reports said another six agents were being investigated for helping prepare the operation.
They said police also received an eyewitness account from an Egyptian woman who heard Omar calling for help and saw him being bundled into a white van as he walked from his house to a mosque.
The report said Omar was taken to Aviano, a joint U.S.-Italian base north of Venice, and was flown from there to another U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, before being taken in a second jet to Cairo.
A judge also has issued a separate arrest warrant for Omar, news agencies ANSA and Apcom said. In that warrant, Judge Guido Salvini claimed the seizure of Omar represented a violation of Italian sovereignty, Apcom reported.
Earlier this month, Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro told The Associated Press that the prosecution was treating the disappearance of Omar as an abduction.
Spataro declined to say who was suspected for the alleged abduction, but he said Omar's disappearance damaged an ongoing operation by Italian authorities. He said he visited the air base in February.
Omar was believed to have fought with jihadists in Afghanistan and Bosnia, and prosecutors were seeking evidence against him before his disappearance, according to a report last year in La Repubblica newspaper, which cited intelligence officials.
Italian papers have reported that Omar, 42, called his wife and friends in Milan after his release last year, recounting he had been seized by Italian and American agents and taken to a secret prison in Egypt, where he was tortured with electric shocks.
Italian officials believe he now is living in Egypt, although Italian newspaper accounts suggested he was returned to custody shortly after his release.
Sharia comes to Italia?
Might I assume that the agents have long since left Italy?
They assumed Dhimmi status years ago.
"Italian papers have reported that Omar, 42, called his wife and friends in Milan after his release last year, recounting he had been seized by Italian and American agents and taken to a secret prison in Egypt, where he was tortured with electric shocks."
Here we go again. "They tortured me, they tortured me!" Keep it up, maybe they shouldn't live to cry this bilge.
What?
They were just helping him get home to see the family.
No good deed goes unpunished.
I want every jihadi in the west to be looking over their shoulder.
A few "falling out of the helicopter" incidents are long overdue.
I truly doubt that sharia would ever work in Italy. They're much too independent.
Uh, shouldn't the CIA be better at doing covert operations than leaving an easily-traced trail like this?
It will turn out he was just a willing participant in a sex bondage fantasy
I assume this article means officers when it references agents, i.e. American CIA CS employees under diplomatic cover, rather than "agents" who would probably be Italian nationals on our payroll. It's a really important distinction and the author should have it down cold.
Excuse me, Mr Judge...as they say in Corsica...kush meer in tochus.
This "Judge" is a left-wing wing nut.
France is the first islamic European country. Italy comes in second. Why deport the crazy islamic? Just dispatch posthaste the islamic crazy to the hereafter and let him enjoy his 32 ugly virgins.
Paging Mr. Bauer, Jack Bauer!?!?
24!
I only get to see the seasons on DVD....I can't wait until 4 comes out so I can rent the suckers or maybe just buy it...but I generally like to rent stuff first.
"They were just helping him get home to see the family."
I hope that they are now preparing transportation for this Judge to go to Egypt to see for himself if this imams trip has been represented properly. :)
Seems like this was pretty sloppy tradecraft on the agents' part, but I'm sure that they are now long gone out of Italy. At least the CIA is now doing its job against these Islamoslugs. Kudos to the Agency...! And really, do the Italians really want to go down this road with us?
While I am happy we got the guy, I understand Italy's point re: sovreignty.
I vaguely recall Israel killing or kidnapping some old Nazi living in the US. I was of the same mind: (1) good for you, Israel and (2) Hey, this is my country, who wants foreign secret agents running around?!
If they were really working with Italian agents, then let the court hash it out with the Italian government. Leave our agents alone.
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