Italy seeks more arrests in CIA kidnap case (including diplomat)

[IChing]

MILAN (Reuters) - An Italian court has widened a probe into the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian terrorism suspect by the CIA, issuing arrest warrants for three U.S. citizens including a diplomat, a judicial source said on Friday.


The new warrants, issued earlier this week, bring the total number of suspects to 22. The first warrants -- all for U.S. citizens -- were issued in June, when the case sparked a diplomatic row.

Italian prosecutors say U.S. secret services took imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from Milan to Egypt in February 2003 for interrogation, a process known as "rendition." There are suspicions he may have been tortured.

The CIA has declined to comment on the case and the Italian government has said it was not aware of the kidnap plot.

Officials at the U.S. embassy in Rome had no immediate comment on Friday.>>>>snip

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050930/ts_nm/security_italy_cia_dc

[struggle4progress]

1. More Italian warrants in alleged "extraordinary rendition"

ROME The U-S Embassy in Rome will not comment on new Italian arrest warrants for purported C-I-A operatives. <snip>

The total number of purported C-I-A operatives sought by Italian police in the case now stands at twenty-two.

Reports say the cleric was flown to Egypt, where he was tortured. <snip>

Prosecutors say the kidnapping hindered Italian terrorism investigations.http://www.kesq.com/Global/story.asp?S=3920231&nav=9qrx

[emad]

2. CIA agents sought over 'abduction': The Times

CIA agents sought over 'abduction'
From Richard Owen in Rome



ARREST warrants have been issued in Italy for three further alleged CIA agents accused of the “illegal abduction” of an Egyptian Muslim cleric from Milan two years ago.
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Armando Spataro, the Milan prosecutor, said the three CIA agents now being sought included a female US diplomat who he said had been in charge of the operation and “participated in it personally”.

Italian newspapers named her as Betnie Medero, 38, who arrived in Italy in August 2001 as a second secretary at the US Embassy. The reports said she was now working in Mexico.

All 22 agents being sought are said to have left Italy, and Signor Spataro said that he was seeking their extradition.

Corriere della Sera, quoting investigators, said that material found on the computer of Robert Seldon Lady, the alleged CIA station chief in Milan at the time, included surveillance photographs of Abu Omar. Investigators said that they had tracked down the alleged agents through mobile telephone and credit card records.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,175-1806416,00.html

[dkofos]

3. At least the Italians are willing to confront the CIA's illegal activities

I wish it were the American people.