ROME, Feb 19: The Italian government has signalled it will not press Washington for the extradition of 26 Americans indicted in the alleged CIA kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan, according to remarks published on Monday.

Milan prosecutors want the government to ask Washington to agree to their request for the extradition of the Americans. The former government of Silvio Berlusconi refused, and Premier Romano Prodi’s center-left government has so far been non committal.

A decision could be announced on Thursday, when Justice Minister Clemente Mastella briefs parliament, though Justice Ministry officials declined to say when a decision would be made.

Mastella suggested in an interview with an Italian newspaper the government would not seek the Americans’ extradition, saying that the friendship with Washington needed to be safeguarded.

“It is an act of institutional caution,” he said in an interview with Italian daily Il Messaggero. “And in this decision – for which I already know I will be accused – I see no interference between politics and the judiciary, just the necessary caution.”

“Relations with the United States are fundamental. We are friends and we will remain friends,” Mastella was quoted as saying.—AP