This article documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

Immage from the CIA's surveillance of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr recovered during investigations by the prosecuting authority of Milan ^[1]

The Abu Omar Case (or Imam Rapito affair - "Kidnapped Imam affair") refers to the abduction and transfer in Egypt of the Imam of Milan Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, and successive vicissitudes. The case has been narrated by the international press as one of well known and better documented case of extraordinary rendition carried out by the CIA in the context of the "global war on terrorism" declared by the Bush administration. Image File history File links Current_event_marker. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (born c. ... Extraordinary rendition and irregular rendition are terms used to describe the extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, and Torture by proxy is used by some critics to describe extraordinary rendition by the United States, with regard to the alleged transfer of suspected terrorists to countries known... The War on terrorism or War on terror (abbreviated in policy circles as GWOT for global war on terror) is a global effort by the governments of several countries (primarily the United States and its principal allies) to destroy international groups it deems as terrorist (primarily radical Islamist terrorist groups... The Bush administration includes President George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Bushs Cabinet, and other select officials and advisors. ...

Abu Omar has been abducted on February 17, 2003 at Milan by the CIA^[1]. According to the enquires reconstruction and what has been told by Nasr himself, the imam has been kidnapped while reaching a mosque and transported to the Aviano Air Base, from which he was transferred to Egypt, where he was secluded, interrogated and allegedly tortured and abused^[2]. The CIA operations has interrupted surveillance carried on by Italian authorities concerning Nasr about his alleged participation to Islamic organizations. Hassan Nasr was released by Egyptian justice in February 2007, who considered his detention "unfounded," and has not been indicted for any alleged crime in Italy. US F-16s at Aviano Aviano Air Base is a base of the United States Air Force, in the northeastern part of Italy, at the foot of the Italian Alps, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Pordenone. ... Political Ideologies Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      This article is about political Islamism. ...

The Italian government originally denied having played any role in the abduction. However, this is contradicted by investigations carried on by Italian prosecutors Armando Spataro and Ferdinand Enrico Pomarici, who have indicted 26 CIA agents, including the Rome station chief and head of CIA in Italy until 2003, Jeffrey W. Castelli, and Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady, as well as SISMI head General Nicolò Pollari, his second Marco Mancini as well as station chiefs Raffaele Ditroia, Luciano Di Gregori and Giuseppe Ciorra^[3]. Refering to the Italian military intelligence agency, the Italian press has talked of a "CIA-SISMI concerted operation." The Italian justice has transmitted extradition requests for the indicted American citizens to the Italian Ministry of Justice, then headed by Roberto Castelli, in order to transmit them to Washington. However, Roberto Castelli had always refused to forward the demand for extradition, which provoked contention with the prosecuting authority of Milan. At the end of his mandate in 2006, Castelli declared that he had not transmitted the acts. Despite Romano Prodi's center-left coalition winning the April 2006 general elections, the extradition requests have not been forwarded. Some members of the government supported the forwarding of the extradition requests. However, Prodi's government has introduced a recourse before the Constitutional Court, alleging a violation of state secret by the enquirers during the investigations. Current Justice Minister Clemente Mastella has declared that he will wait for the resolution of the hanging issue before deciding on the forwarding, or not, of the requests. The trial is due for June 2007. Jeffrey W. Castelli is a noted member of the U.S. intelligence community. ... Robert Seldon Lady (born 1954 Tegucigalpa ) is the former CIA chief in Milan, Italy. ... Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (Military Intelligence and Security Service, SISMI) is the military intelligence agency of Italy. ... General Nicolò Pollari, (b. ... Marco Mancini is a senior official in Sismi, the military intelligence agency of Italy. ... Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. ... Roberto Castelli (Lecco 12Th of July 1946) is the current Minister of Justice in italian Government, Senator and a preeminent exponent of Lega Nord party. ...   (born 9 August 1939) is a centre-left Italian politician. ... The Union (Italian: LUnione) is an Italian centre-left political party coalition. ... A general election for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy was held on April 9 and April 10, 2006. ... The Constitutional Court of Italy (Italian: Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is a supreme court of Italy, the other being the Court of Cassation. ... Classified information is information to which access is restricted by law or corporate rules to particular hierarchical classes of people. ... Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947 in Ceppaloni, Benevento) is an Italian politician. ...

Investigation of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

Hasaan Mustafa Osama Nasr was a radical Egyptian cleric and member of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya^{[citation needed]} who had fled Egypt due to that group's persecution as a terrorist organization by the Egyptian government. He was granted political asylum in Italy in 2001, and held an Italian asylum passport. Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya (Arabic: ألجماعه الاسلاميه ) (Arabic for the Islamic Group; also transliterated Gamaat Islamiya, Jamaat al Islamiya, al-Jamāah al-Islāmiyah etc. ... Power lines leading to a trash dump hover just overhead in El Carpio, a Nicaraguan refugee camp in Costa Rica Under international law, a refugee is a person who is outside his/her country of nationality or habitual residence; has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her...

As early as Spring 2002, he was under investigation by Italian and American intelligence agencies by means of wiretaps and physical and electronic surveillance. Italian authorities have claimed that they believed that they had evidence Nasr was building a network to recruit terrorists, and possibly had links to Al Qaeda^{[citation needed]}. They alleged in particular links with Ansar al-Islam and ties to a network sending combattants in the Iraqi Kurdistan. However, citing Jason Burke's book on Al-Qaeda, British reporter at The Observer, La Repubblica noted in June 2005 that in 2002, before the invasion of Iraq, the Bush administration was claiming, along with British prime minister Tony Blair, that Iraq maintained close links with Al-Qaeda, in particular through Ansar al-Islam. The Italian newspaper concluded that the Abu Omar case was a "chapter in the combination of intelligence-psychological warfare-information war engaged by Washington and London to justify the invasion of Iraq." ^{[4] [5][6]} There are also reports that Nasr was involved in plotting a terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Rome,^[7] and was suspected of being involved in a plot to bomb a number of children of foreign diplomats attending the American School of Milan, although sources disagree whether such plots even existed.^[8] It has been suggested that Telephone recording,Voice logging be merged into this article or section. ... A bug is the common name for a covert listening device, usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. ... Al-Qaeda (also al-Qaida or al-Qaida) (Arabic: ‎ , trans. ... Ansar al-Islam (Arabic: انصار الاسلام, Supporters or Partisans of Islam) is a Kurdish Sunni Islamist group, promoting a radical interpretation of Islam and holy war. ... Motto: None Anthem: Ey Reqîb (English: Hey Guardian) Capital Arbil Largest city Erbil Official languages Kurdish, Arabic, (Assyrian (Syriac)) and (Iraqi Turkmen) [1] Government Parliamentary Democracy  - President Masoud Barzani  - Prime Minister Nechervan Idris Barzani  - Deputy Prime Minister Omer Fattah Hussain Formation of Autonomous Region    - Autonomy Accord Agreement is Signed... Jason Burke is an author and journalist with the British Sunday newspaper The Observer, where he is currently Europe editor. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... La Repubblica (meaning: The Republic) is an Italian daily newspaper. ... For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ... George Herbert Walker Bush (born June 12, 1924) was the 41st President of the United States (1989–1993). ... For other people of the same name, see Tony Blair (disambiguation) Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born May 6, 1953)[1] is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service, Leader of the Labour Party, and Member of Parliament for the constituency... Intelligence is a property of mind that encompasses many related mental abilities, such as the capacities to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. ... It has been suggested that infowars be merged into this article or section. ... The Rendon Group is a secretive public relations firm that has provided communication services to the CIA and the Pentagon. ... Benjamin Franklin established Americas first mission overseas in Paris in 1779. ...

Most observers have come to believe that Nasr was abducted by the United States as a source of intelligence on foreign combatants being recruited to fight in Iraq, which, at the time, the United States had yet to invade. For other uses, see Iraq war (disambiguation). ...

Abduction and rendition to Egypt

On February 17, 2003, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was abducted by persons allegedly affiliated with the CIA as he walked to his mosque in Milan for noon prayers ^[9]. Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (born c. ...

According to court documents, Nasr was pushed into a minivan on Via Croce Viola in Milan and driven four or five hours to a joint Italian-U.S. air base at Aviano. He was allegedly tortured there ^[4]. From there, he was flown by a Lear jet (using the call sign SPAR 92) to Ramstein, Germany. SPAR (Special Air Ressources) is the call sign used by US senior military officers and civilian VIPs for airlift transport^[10][11] A second plane then took him to Cairo, where he was imprisoned and, he claims, tortured.^[7] US F-16s at Aviano Aviano Air Base is a base of the United States Air Force, in the northeastern part of Italy, at the foot of the Italian Alps, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Pordenone. ... Torture is defined by the United Nations Convention Against Torture as any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he... C-GBFP - Adlair Aviation - Learjet 25 (LJ25) refueling at Cambridge Bay Airport, Nunavut, Canada. ... Call sign can refer to different types of call signs: Airline call sign Aviator call sign Cosmonaut call sign Radio and television call signs Tactical call sign, also known as a tactical designator See also: International Callsign Allocations, Maritime Mobile Service Identity This is a disambiguation page — a navigational... This article is about the town. ... This article is about the convenience store. ... Nickname: Al Qahirah (The Triumphant City) Egypt: Site of Cairo (top center) Coordinates: Government  - Governor Dr. Abdul Azim Wazir Area  - City 210 km²  (81. ...

In April 2004, while his incarceration had been downgraded to house arrest, Nasr placed several phone calls from Egypt to his family and friends. He told them he had been rendered into the hands of Egypt's SSI at Tura prison, twenty miles south of Cairo.^[12] He claimed to have been subjected to various depredations, torutured by beating and electric shocks to the genitals, raped ^[13]., and eventually had lost hearing in one ear.^[6] At the time of the calls he had been released on the orders of an Egyptian judge because of lack of evidence. Shortly after those calls were made he was re-arrested and placed back in prison. In justice and law, house arrest is the situation where a person is confined (by the authorities) to his or her residence. ... Extraordinary rendition and irregular rendition are terms used to describe the extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, and Torture by proxy is used by some critics to describe extraordinary rendition by the United States, with regard to the alleged transfer of suspected terrorists to countries known... The Mabahith Amn al-Dawla al-Ulya, or State Security Intelligence (SSI), is the highest national intelligence authority in Egypt. ... Tura was a site in Ancient Egypt, located about halfway between modern Cairo and Helwan[1]. It was Egypts primary quarry for limestone. ... Sign warning of possible electric shock hazard An electric shock can occur upon contact of a human or animal body with any source of voltage high enough to cause sufficient current flow through the muscles or nerves. ...

Nasr was not released again until February 11, 2007, at which time he was permitted to return to his family. After four years of detention, an Egyptian court ruled that his imprisonment was "unfounded." ^[14]

In 2006, Nasr's lawyer Montasser el-Zayat said Nasr was underfed but there were "no signs of torture."^[15] Montasser el-Zayat is an Egyptian lawyer. ...

Investigation and warrants for CIA operatives

The CIA agents were implicated, in part, by extensive cellphone records which allowed Milan police to reconstruct their movements for the nine days they were in the city. Because the agents had apparently not, at any time, removed the batteries from their cellphones, investigators were able to pinpoint their locations from moment to moment. The agents also made numerous phone calls to the US consulate in Milan, to northern Virginia (where the CIA headquarters are located) and to friends and family in the United States. This does not cite its references or sources. ...

The operation was allegedly led by Robert Seldon Lady, former CIA station chief in Milan, who was then operating out of the U.S. embassy under diplomatic cover as the "Consul of the United States in Milan." The operation was carried out by the CIA's Special Activities Division.^[7] Lady has said that he opposed the abduction plans, but was overruled.^[16] Lady has since retired from the CIA, which puts him a precarious legal position, as the status of his diplomatic immunity is now in doubt.^[17] Photos of Robert Lady recently have surfaced on the Web.^[18] Robert Seldon Lady (born 1954 Tegucigalpa ) is the former CIA chief in Milan, Italy. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In December 2005, CIA Director Porter Goss ordered a sweeping review of the agency's field operations because of what he perceived as the Milan rendition's "sloppiness".^[19] Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) serves as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is part of the United States Intelligence Community. ... Porter Goss Porter Johnston Goss (born November 26, 1938) is an American politician and the current Director of the Central Intelligence Agency . ...

In June 2005, Italian judge Guido Salvini issued warrants for the arrest of 22 persons said to be agents or operatives of the CIA, including Jeffrey W. Castelli, head of the CIA in Italy until 2003 ^[9]. Salvini said the abduction was illegal because it violated Italian sovereignty and international law and disrupted an ongoing police investigation. He also issued a warrant for the arrest of Nasr, on charges of associating with terrorists. The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... Jeffrey W. Castelli is a noted member of the U.S. intelligence community. ... Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme authority over a geographic region or group of people, such as a nation or a tribe. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...

In November 2005, Italian prosecutors requested that Italy's Justice Ministry seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States. The Italian government declined.

On December 20, 2005, European arrest warrants were issued for the 22 suspects. ^[20] The European Arrest Warrant (EAW) is an arrest warrant to allow the arrest of criminal suspects and their transfer for trial or detention which is valid throughout the states of the European Union (EU). ...

In April 2006, just after the Italian general election, outgoing Justice Minister Roberto Castelli (Lega Nord) told prosecutors that he had decided not to pass the extradition request to the United States. A general election for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy was held on April 9 and April 10, 2006. ... A justice minister is a ministerial position in the governments of some countries, with general responsibility for policing and the maintenance of public order. ... Roberto Castelli (Lecco 12Th of July 1946) is the current Minister of Justice in italian Government, Senator and a preeminent exponent of Lega Nord party. ... The Northern League (Italian: Lega Nord) is an Italian political party that advocates autonomy for a part of Northern Italy called Padania. It is a personality-driven party led by Umberto Bossi. ...

One of the "concerted CIA-SISMI operations"

The abduction occurred without the knowledge of at least the Italian intelligence and law enforcement officials working directly on the Nasr case, who initially suspected that Nasr had been kidnapped by the Egyptian government, possibly with the cooperation of other branches of the Italian government. When the Italians questioned their American counterparts about Nasr's disappearance, they were told he had traveled voluntarily to the Balkans.^[6] This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Furthermore, Italian officials initially denied the Italian government had authorized or sanctioned a US operation to kidnap Nasr. Italian Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Carlo Giovanardi, member of Silvio Berlusconi's second and third government, said in no uncertain terms to the Italian parliament: "Our secret services were not aware of the operation ... It was never brought to the attention of the government or national institutions."   (born September 29, 1936) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, and media proprietor. ... The Parliament of Italy (Italian: Parlamento Italiano) is the national parliament of Italy. ...

But former CIA officials contradicted this by claiming the agency had secured the consent of Italian intelligence, and that the CIA's station chief in Rome, Jeffrey W. Castelli, had been granted explicit permission for the operation by his Italian counterpart.^[7] Furthermore, the circumstances of Nasr's abduction tended to accredit the thesis of at least passive support of the operation by Italian intelligence services. In particular, questions were raised by the CIA agents' startling laxity in travel arrangements. By all accounts, they did little to cover their tracks. Instead of fleeing immediately, most of them remained in Italy days after the operation, in some of Milan's best hotels. Only some of them used aliases. The rest traveled with their normal passports and drivers licenses, paid for things with credit cards in their real names, chatted openly on cell phones before, during, and after the operation. After the abduction, they even carelessly bypassed speed limits in Milan. Some have speculated this represents evidence of Italian complicity, as little apparent effort was made to obfuscate the identities of the participants.^[7] A Station Chief is a term for certain official who are appointed as chief of a station, i. ... Jeffrey W. Castelli is a noted member of the U.S. intelligence community. ...

This hypothesis was confirmed by Italian investigations. On 5 July 2006 two high-ranking Italian intelligence officers were arrested by Italian police for their alleged complicity in Abu Omar's kidnapping. These included Marco Mancini, number 2 of SISMI, Italy's military intelligence agency, and Gustavo Pignero, the agency's chief for the northern region of Italy. Italian wiretaps caught Mancini admitting that he had lied about his involvement in the abduction case.^[21] These arrests signaled the first official admission that Italian intelligence agents were involved in the abduction. Additionally, the former head of SISMI's Milan office, Col. Stefano D'Ambrosio, claims that he was removed from his position by his superiors because of his objections to the abduction plot; he was later replaced by Mancini.^[21] Marco Mancini is a senior official in Sismi, the military intelligence agency of Italy. ... Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (Military Intelligence and Security Service, SISMI) is the military intelligence agency of Italy. ...

Thus, public prosecutors Armando Spataro and Pomarici have described the abduction as "a concerted CIA-SISMI operation" organized by "Italian and American agents" with the aim of the "capture" and "secret transfer" of the imam to Egypt^[22]. Paolo Biondani and Italian counter-terrorist expert Guido Olimpio cited the 18 November 2005 article published by Dana Priest in the Washington Post, where she described the CTIC (Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Center), a "joint operation centers in more than two dozen countries where U.S. and foreign intelligence officers work side by side to track and capture suspected terrorists and to destroy or penetrate their networks.^[23]" Italy was not included in this international alliance of intelligence agencies, which largest base was in Paris, named Alliance Base. Dana Priest is an author and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist. ... ... A Counterterrorist Intelligence Center (CTIC) is, according to a Washington Post November 18, 2005 front page article by Dana Priest, a counterterrorist operations center run jointly by the CIA and foreign intelligence services as part of the US War on Terror [1]. // According to Dana Priests article, on which... Alliance Base is the cover name for a secret Western Counterterrorist Intelligence Center (CTIC) established in 2002 in Paris. ...

According to Guido Olimpio and Paolo Biondani, Italy was not included in the CTIC allegedly because of internal jealousy between various Italian intelligence agencies. But they noted that, despite that, the arrest ordonnance against Marco Mancini and his superior General Gustavo Pignero referred to the operation as an example of the "non orthodox activity" (the only one known of) realized by the CIA and the SISMI "since 2002," thus demonstrating some sort of cooperation between US and Italian intelligence agencies, albeit not in the frame of the CTIC.

Furthermore, according to testimonies by SISMI agents to the Italian justice, Mancini proposed himself to the CIA as a "double agent^[22]" According to Colonel Stefano D'Ambrosio, former SISMI responsible in Milan replaced by Mancini, the CIA refused to hire the latter because they considered him too "venal." But his demand "left traces in the computer" of the US intelligence ^[22]. All SISMI testimonies converge in saying that Mancini owed his dazzling career to his "privileged relations with the CIA. ^[22]" According to SISMI testimony, after the 17 February 2003 kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Nasr, then CIA director George Tenet sent a letter to SISMI General Nicolò Pollari in August 2003, to which Mancini would allegedly owe the real reasons of his promotion to number 2 of the SISMI ^[22]. In another, earlier article, the same author, Guido Olimpio, wrote that following the abduction of the imam, SISMI informed the Italian government and then the CIA, assuring them that no agent who had taken part in this covert operation would be caught by the justice. In turn, CIA director George Tenet would have sent a letter to Forte Braschi, the SISMI headquarters in Rome ^[24]. The CIA Seal The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an American intelligence agency, responsible for obtaining and analyzing information about foreign governments, corporations, and individuals, and reporting such information to the various branches of the U.S. Government. ... A double agent pretends to spy on a target organization on behalf of a controlling organization, but in fact is loyal to the target organization. ... George Tenet George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University and was previously the Director of Central Intelligence for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. ... General Nicolò Pollari, (b. ...

Furthermore, apart of the July 2006 arrest of Marco Mancini, n°2 of the SISMI, and of Gustavo Pignero, the agency's chief for the northern region of Italy,the head of SISMI General Nicolò Pollari had to resign in November 2006 because of the affair and was indicted in December by the Milanese judges. General Nicolò Pollari, (b. ...

The trial

In addition to the 22 European arrest warrants issued in December 2005 and the arrest of the above-mentionned SISMI officers, an Italian judge issued additional arrest warrants for four Americans, three CIA agents and for Lieutenant Colonel Joseph L. Romano III, commander of security forces at the Aviano Air Base at the time, now working at Section 31b of the Pentagon ^[25]. Ultimately, twenty-six Americans and nine Italians (including head of SISMI Nicolò Pollari, n°2 of the same intelligence agency Marco Mancini, as well as General Gustavo Pignero; and also the junior ROS officer Giuliano Pironi) were indicted ^[26]. The start of the trial is set for June 8, 2007. It will be the first criminal trial related to the U.S. practice of extraordinary rendition.^[16] Air Force Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph L. Romano is an officer in the United States Air Force and the only known military officer out of 26 American nationals charged with the 2003 kidnapping of Italian cleric Hassan Nasr as part of an alleged covert CIA operation. ... Security Forces members survey the installation perimeter at Manas Air Base. ... US F-16s at Aviano Aviano Air Base is a base of the United States Air Force, in the northeastern part of Italy, at the foot of the Italian Alps, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Pordenone. ... General Nicolò Pollari, (b. ... Marco Mancini is a senior official in Sismi, the military intelligence agency of Italy. ... ROS may refer to: Reparti i Operacioneve Speciale - a special forces unit in Albania Revenue On-Line Service - a tax returns system used in Ireland Review of Systems - a series of medical questions asked to patients regarding the satus of different organ systems Run-of-Schedule (in Television) Run-of... Extraordinary rendition and irregular rendition are terms used to describe the extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, and Torture by proxy is used by some critics to describe extraordinary rendition by the United States, with regard to the alleged transfer of suspected terrorists to countries known...

Two others Italian suspects reached plea bargains. Giuliano Pironi, who admitted stopping Nasr and controlling his identity during the kidnapping, was given a suspended sentence on one year, nine months and a day. Renato Farina, vice-director of Libero newspaper, who was hired by the SISMI in 1999 ^[27], was accused as an accessory. He was given six months sentence that was converted into a fine ^[14]. Carabinieri Piniori testified that he asked for Nasr' identity papers on Robert Lady's request, and assured that the operation was a concerted CIA-SISMI operation ^[28]. The first one to confess the involvement of the CIA and the SISMI in the abduction of Abu Omar, Piniori thought, when he participated in the operation, that he was passing a test to enter the SISMI. He later realized he had been instrumentalized ^[29] A plea bargain (also plea agreement, plea deal or copping a plea) is an agreement in a criminal case in which a prosecutor and a defendant arrange to settle the case against the defendant. ... China ID card, front (top) back (bottom). ... Libero can refer to: A specialist defensive position in soccer (also known as a sweeper). ...

Marco Mancini recognized to Milan prosecutors having followed orders of his superior General Pignero, who himself obeyed requests from Jeff Castelli, CIA head in Italy, to the director of the SISMI, General Pollari. Mancini confessed having organised a meeting in Bologna with all the heads of the SISMI centers. He illustrated on this occasion the plan for the abduction. The arrest warrants issued on 15 June 2006 against Jeff Castelli, others US agents, Mancini and Pignero were done on these grounds ^[28]. Bologna (IPA , from Latin Bononia, Bulåggna in Emiliano-Romagnolo) is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy, in the Pianura Padana, between the Po River and the Apennines, exactly between the Reno River and the Sàvena River. ...

In the meantime, Milan prosecutor Armando Spataro found out the existence of an office, in the centre of Rome, linked to SISMI, in charge of 'secret operations.' It was directed by a close collaborator of head of SISMI Pollari. According to the European Parliament "Temporary Committee on the Alleged Use of European Countries by the CIA for the Transport and the Illegal Detention of Prisoners", headed by rapporteur Giovanni Claudio Fava: The European Parliament (formerly European Parliamentary Assembly) is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... Claudio Fava Giovanni Claudio Fava (born 15 April 1957) is an Italian politician and Member of the European Parliament for the Italian Islands with the Democrats of the Left (DS), part of the Socialist Group and is vice-chair of the European Parliaments Committee on Regional Development. ...

"The main target of this office consisted in distorting the national press information, through journalists ad hoc hired by SISMI, by editing false reports with the aim to keep high the "terrorism alert" vis-à-vis the public opinion. Among the duties also the one of chasing and tapping the communications of the two journalists of the newspaper "La Repubblica" in charge of the Abu Omar case: Carlo Bonini and Giuseppe D'avanzo." ^[28] Public Opinion is a book on media and democracy by Walter Lippmann. ...

In a secretly registered conversation General Pignero, Mancini's superior, confirmed having met SISMI director Pollari right after a meeting with Jeff Castelli, head of the CIA in Italy. He said on this occasion that he had received by Pollari a list of names, among others that of Abu Omar, and to have been ordered to observe the Egyptian cleric in view of his abduction. Pignero then ordered Mancini to proceed with all these activities ^[28].

Interrogated by the Milan prosecutor in July 2006, General Pollari involved the Italian government and invoked a classified document. Romano Prodi's government has confirmed its classified status ^[28]. During his hearing in August 2006 before the Italian Parliamentary Committee on Secret services control (Copaco), Pollari defended himself again invoking the raison d'état ^[28]. The Italian Parliamentary Committee on Secret services control (Copaco) was created in 1977 to survey the activities of SISMI and SISDE. Italys intelligence agencies were re-organized this year, following the arrest of General Vito Miceli for conspiration against the state. ... The national interest, often referred to by the French term raison détat, is a countrys goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. ...

In October 2006, prosecutor Spataro transmitted to the European Temporary Committee a copy of a SISMI document, from which it comes out that SISMI was informed by the CIA on 15 May 2003 that Abu Omar was interrogated in Cairo by Egyptian servicse ^[28]. Enrico Micheli, the Italian government's responsible for secret services, declared to the European committee that the Berlusconi administration had classified files related to the Abu Omar case, and that the Prodi administration confirmed such secrecy ^[28].

Any trial of American citizens is expected to happen in absentia. The United States is not expected to extradite the CIA operatives. As of February 2007, the Italian government has issued no extradition requests, although the Italian judiciary has been calling for the government to do so since 2005. Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, member of the new government of Romano Prodi, Prime minister of Italy since the 2006 general election, has still given no news of the extradition request given to her by Armando Spataro, the Milanese public prosecutor. Current Minister of Infrastructures and former prosecutor of Milan, Antonio di Pietro, has criticized on February 15, 2007 his governmental colleagues, claiming that the refuse to transmit the extradition requests to the US abounded to "cover an illegal operation, the kidnapping of a person." ^[30] For in absentia medical care, see Health care delivery. ... Extradition is the official process by which one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. ... Mario Clemente Mastella (born 5 February 1947 in Ceppaloni, Benevento) is an Italian politician. ...   (born 9 August 1939) is a centre-left Italian politician. ... A general election for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy was held on April 9 and April 10, 2006. ... Antonio di Pietro Antonio Di Pietro (born Montenero di Bisaccia, Italy, October 2, 1950) is an Italian Senator and was a magistrate in the team of the so-called Mani Pulite. Born to a poor rural family of Molise, very young he went Germany to work as a waiter in...

Freed on February 11, 2007, Osama Mustafa Hassan Nasr has deposed a complaint against former Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, demanding 10 million Euros of damage and interests "for his implication in the kidnapping as chief of the government [during the events] and for having permitted the CIA to capture him." ^[26][31].

The Italian executive has opposed the judges in Milan, by deposing a recourse before the Constitutional Court against Armando Spataro, charging him of having violated state secret by using the wiretaps recordings of SISMI agents ^[26]. In particular, Romano Prodi's government accused the magistrates of having revealed the identity of 85 foreign and Italian spies ^[30] The Italian government has said it will wait for the ruling before issuing the extradition requests ^[32] The Constitutional Court of Italy (Italian: Corte costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana) is a supreme court of Italy, the other being the Court of Cassation. ... Classified information is information to which access is restricted by law or corporate rules to particular hierarchical classes of people. ...

Political context

The exposé of the incident, coming just before Italy's general election, was a major embarrassment for the Berlusconi administration.^[17] If it had admitted foreknowledge of or complicity in the operation, it would have been admitting that one part of the government (its intelligence services) deliberately undermined the efforts of another (its judiciary). If it had denied any involvement, it would point to a serious lapse in Italian security, as it would mean foreign intelligence agencies would be able to pull off major operations within Italy, right under the nose of Italy's own intelligence agencies, with virtual impunity.^[7] An exposé is an article or book intended to reveal shocking or surprising information. ... A general election for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy was held on April 9 and April 10, 2006. ...   (born September 29, 1936) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, and media proprietor. ...

Either way, most observers thought it clear Silvio Berlusconi did not wish the case to proceed. He initially told the press that he did not believe the CIA was responsible for the abduction, and even if they were responsible, it was a justifiable action. He was widely quoted in the press as having said, "You can't tackle terrorism with a law book in your hand."^[17]. He then declared to ANSA agency: "This is a trial we absolutely should not have, and its result will be that our intelligence services will not longer have the cooperation of foreign intelligence" ^[14].   (born September 29, 1936) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, and media proprietor. ... ANSA may refer to: Alliance of Norwegian Students Abroad Italian news agency ANSA [1] This is a disambiguation page — a list of articles associated with the same title. ...

Berlusconi's successor, Romano Prodi, has thus far seemed more amenable to the judicial investigations, although is proceeding guardedly. Despite prosecutors' numerous requests, the Italian government still has issued no extradition requests to the United States.   (born 9 August 1939) is a centre-left Italian politician. ...

The Imam Rapito case poses the problem of Italy's involvement in the US "War on Terror" ^[4]. The incident also served to highlight tensions between Italy's fiercely independent judiciary and its executive administration (including the intelligence services), which would have preferred the judiciary didn't press the issue with the United States. During the Italian investigations into the incident, it was discovered that not only had SISMI (or a division of it) collaborated with the CIA in the abduction, it had also been illegally surveilling Italian citizens, particularly Italian magistrates unfriendly to the Berlusconi administration, often with the help of Italian journalists. Italian prosecutors believed reporters from right-wing paper Libero used interviews with the lead prosecutor in the abduction case, Armando Spataro, as a pretext to glean confidential information to pass on to SISMI agents. On July 6, 2006, Libero's offices were raided by Italian police.^[21] The war on terrorism or war on terror (abbreviated in U.S. policy circles as GWOT for Global War on Terror) is an effort by the governments of the United States and its principal allies to destroy groups deemed to be terrorist (primarily radical Islamist organizations such as al-Qaeda... Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (Military Intelligence and Security Service, SISMI) is the military intelligence agency of Italy. ...   (born September 29, 1936) is an Italian politician, entrepreneur, and media proprietor. ... Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (Military Intelligence and Security Service, SISMI) is the military intelligence agency of Italy. ...

Furthermore, this case takes place after already difficult relations between Italy and the US. Berlusconi has engaged Italy in the war in Iraq, and Romano Prodi's electoral promise was to withdraw as soon as possible Italian troops from Iraq. The SISMI also lost an agent, Nicola Calipari, during Giuliana Sgrena's release in Iraq, causing diplomatic incidents with the US ^[31]. Furthermore, allegations linked the Yellowcake forgery scandal to the SISMI ^[24].   (born 9 August 1939) is a centre-left Italian politician. ... Nicola Calipari Nicola Calipari (June 23, 1953, Reggio Calabria - March 4, 2005, Iraq) was an Italian military intelligence officer with the rank of Major General. ... Giuliana Sgrena Giuliana Sgrena (born December 20, 1948) is a well-known Italian journalist and author who works for the Italian communist newspaper Il Manifesto and the German weekly Die Zeit. ... The term Yellowcake Forgery refers to falsified classified documents initially uncovered by Italian intelligence which possibly depicted an attempt by Iraqs Saddam Hussein regime to purchase yellowcake uranium from the country of Niger, in defiance of United Nations sanctions. ...

See also

• Extraordinary rendition
• Human rights in Egypt
• Montasser el-Zayat
• SISMI-Telecom scandal, discovered by Italian justice during investigations concerning "Abu Omar"
• Italian political scandals

Extraordinary rendition and irregular rendition are terms used to describe the extrajudicial transfer of a person from one state to another, and Torture by proxy is used by some critics to describe extraordinary rendition by the United States, with regard to the alleged transfer of suspected terrorists to countries known... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Montasser el-Zayat is an Egyptian lawyer. ... As part of the judiciary investigation on the Imam Rapito case, the Italian justice discovered an illegal domestic surveillance program run by Marco Mancini, former #2 of the SISMI military intelligence agency, with the help of Giuliano Tavaroli, former chief of security at the Italian Telecom company and of Pirelli... This is a list of major political scandals in Italy: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconis many corruption charges Tax evasion bribing members of the judicary immunity legislation Media manipulation fro political propaganda P2 scandal, 1980s Tangentopoli (diffuse corruption cases in national politics), early 1990s Categories: Incomplete lists | Politics of Italy...

External links

• http://www.statewatch.org/cia/documents/milan-tribunal-6-us-citizens-sought-en.pdf
• Watching America - Italy Says CIA Agents Guilty of Abduction, Issues Europe-Wide Arrest Warrants 27/06/05

References