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Italy issues European arrest warrants against CIA agents
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-12-24 08:51
An Italian court on Friday issued arrest warrants for 22 alleged CIA agents
suspected of kidnapping a Muslim cleric in Italy, prosecutors said.
The warrants were issued by a Milan court, they said.Egyptian cleric Hassan
Mustafa Osama Nasr, whom Italian investigators have accused of ties to al Qaeda
and recruiting combatants for Iraq, was allegedly kidnapped by 22 CIA agents in
aMilan street in February 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation.
The former Imam, who is also known as Abu Omar, alleges he was tortured and
beaten while being questioned in prison in Egypt.The Italian move means the
American agents may be arrested in any of the European Union's 25 member states.
A European Union warrant, which was agreed by the European Union in the wake
of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, is automatically valid
across the European Union and does not require approval of any government.
A recent report by the Washington Post alleges that the CIA agents had lied
to Italy about the suspect's whereabouts and that they had briefed their Italian
counterparts about his abduction.Italy has arrested around 200 terror suspects
in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the United States, according to
Interior Ministry data.
The vast majority of the suspects, however,were later released for lack of
evidence.
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