CIA Accused Of Kidnapping

CIA accused of kidnapping

http://news.scotsman.com/internation...?id=2230182005

PHIL STEWARTIN ROME
11/12/2005

ITALIAN prosecutors have requested the extradition of 22 suspected CIA agents over the kidnapping of a terrorism suspect who was grabbed off a street in 2003 and taken abroad, a senior judicial source said yesterday.

The request is now before Justice Minister Roberto Castelli, who can decide to make a formal request to the United States to pursue the case, said the source, who spoke on the condition that he remain anonymous.

Prosecutors in Milan believe the CIA was behind the disappearance of Egyptian-born imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.

They say he was grabbed off a Milan street and flown from a US air base in northern Italy to Egypt, where they suspect he may have been tortured under interrogation by Egyptian security officials. Nasr is believed to be still in Egyptian custody.

Intelligence officials believe that Nasr fought in Afghanistan before arriving in Italy in 1997. Investigators accuse him of ties to al-Qaeda.