Hassan Nasr Abduction: For the CIA, one ‘extraordinary rendition’ too many

Missing, presumed renditioned

After cooperating for the past two years with the United States on terrorism issues (and not getting much in return), Italy has let surface its underlying tensions with a purported CIA activity known as “extraordinary rendition,” where suspected dissidents or criminals are kidnapped for torture in third party countries. In a glaring case, Italian prosecutors have sought warrants for the arrest of 6 additional suspected CIA figures (in addition to 13 warrants previously issued) for the daylight abduction of an Egyptian Muslim cleric, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, from Milan, Italy in 2003.

He was taken out of the country through the US air base at Aviano to Egypt where he claims to have been tortured. ”There were no doubts” the six were part ”of a single group of Americans who came to Milan to carry out the operation,” said chief prosecutor Armando Spataro of the abduction carried out without Italian knowledge.

The radical cleric, alleged by some to be a wayward CIA informant himself, was someone the Italians wanted to deal with on its own terms as he was considered a link to existing militant groups in Europe, possibly including those behind the recent London attacks. “The kidnapping of Abu Omar was not just illegal, having seriously violated Italian sovereignty, but it was also harmful and corrosive to the effectiveness of the overall fight against terrorism,” added Milan Judge Guido Salvini, who (belatedly) issued a standing arrest order for Nasr.

The CIA and US authorities have had no comment on the 19 accused agents, even though their revealed identities (and spending habits) have destroyed the “plausible deniability” that usually characterises covert activity. “The real problem is with the United States, there is a certain difficulty receiving information,” said former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato. “The Americans take an exclusive attitude, without respecting the criteria of the maximum collaboration with Western countries.”

Complicating the matter is the involvement of Interpol in Italy’s official extradition request (spies vs. spies?). And for the cherry on top – because the reported flight path included a stop in Germany’s Ramstein air base Germany is now considering its own probe, depending on whether or not the agents stepped foot on German soil (the base itself is US territory). But for now, there is no word on Nasr’s whereabouts other than the corroborating information he relayed to his Italian wife in a 2004 phone call from Egypt that spurred Italy into investigating the CIA operatives.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England.