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ROME, June 29: Italians are demanding their government say if it secretly authorized the alleged kidnapping by CIA-linked agents of a terrorism suspect, grabbed off a Milan street and flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.
Rome and Washington have declined to comment formally on last week’s arrest order in Milan for the 13 suspected kidnappers, which a judicial source said were all believed to be linked to the US intelligence agency.
If Italians say they authorized the Feb 17, 2003, abduction, they might end up incriminating themselves, the source said, adding: “You cannot authorize a crime.”
But if the operation did not have Italian approval, the centre-left opposition says, it would raise serious concerns about US intervention in an ally.
The 13 are believed to have left Italy and none have been arrested.
But analysts say the unfolding case could rattle relations between the two allies, shaken in March when US troops shot and killed an Italian intelligence agent in Iraq, without facing disciplinary action.
“Either the (Italian) government knew about the kidnapping ... or the government was not even informed by the American intelligence service over its activity in Italy,” opposition Senator Antonello Falomi told Italian media.
“In either case, it’s another terrible sign of this government’s submission to US interests.”
DETAILS OF THE CRIME: Answers may come on Thursday when an official spokesman would comment on the case in response to a request by centre-left lawmakers.
But it was not clear who would speak, or what exactly officials would be willing to say about the case.
Although the warrant is still under seal, leaks to the Italian media and an official statement by the prosecutors’ office have revealed names of suspects, telephone records and wiretap transcripts.
Prosecutors even tracked the flight route that they allege agents with the US intelligence agency used to take radical Muslim cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from an air base in Italy to Egypt.
Musa Nasr says he was tortured under questioning in Egypt after being handed over to authorities.
Mr Nasr was under investigation in Italy for possible terrorism links at the time of his abduction and critics have asked why the United States would need “rendition” — if not to take him to a place which human rights groups say allows far more aggressive interrogation than Italy does.—Reuters
