JURIST - Paper Chase: Italy police arrest Italian intelligence officials in CIA abduction case

[JURIST] Police arrested two Italian intelligence officers Wednesday, including a senior official, in connection with the alleged extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] of Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr [Wikipedia profile], also known as Abu Omar. Judicial sources said that Marco Mancini, a division director of Italy's Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) [official website; Wikipedia backgrounder], the Italian intelligence organization, will be accused of collaborating with CIA operatives who in 2003 allegedly kidnapped Nasr from a Milan street and then flew him to Egypt where he was tortured. Mancini and the second Italian intelligence officer are the first Italians to be connected to the Nasr rendition. Arrest warrants have already been issued for 22 CIA agents said to be involved in the alleged abduction and four additional arrest warrants for Americans were issued Wednesday.

In April, the Italian justice department said it would not seek the extradition [JURIST report] from the US of the 22 CIA agents who are thought to have committed Nasr's alleged kidnapping and subsequent rendition. Instead, Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro, who filed the extradition request, may prosecute the CIA operatives in absentia [JURIST reports]. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has called the alleged kidnapping a violation of Italian sovereignty [JURIST report]. Reuters has more. BBC News has additional coverage.

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