JURIST - Paper Chase: Italian judge issues Europe-wide arrest warrants for 22 CIA operatives

[JURIST] An Italian judge issued European arrest warrants on Friday for the 22 CIA operatives accused of participating in the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003 [JURIST report]. Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro said the warrants allowed for the arrest of those accused in any of the 25 European Union countries. Spataro has also filed a request for extradition of the 22 from the United States. Italian Justice Minister Roberto Castelli [official profile] has yet to forward the request to the US, however, questioning Spataro's motives [JURIST report] and requesting more court documentation. The 22 agents are accused of kidnapping cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile], a suspected member of an Islamic military group, in Milan and then flying him to Egypt to be tortured. An Italian judge ruled in November that the former CIA station chief who is one of the 22 accused relinquished all immunity when he left his post [JURIST report]. US authorities have consistently declined to comment on the alleged kidnapping. AP has more.

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