Italy Judge Orders Arrest of 13 CIA Agents: "An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for allegedly helping deport an imam to Egypt as part of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, an Italian official familiar with the investigation said Friday.
The agents are suspected in the seizure of an Egyptian-born imam identified as Abu Omar on the streets of Milan in February 2003, according to the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information.
The U.S. Embassy in Rome declined to comment.
Prosecutors believe the agents seized Omar as part of the CIA's ``extraordinary rendition'' program, in which terror suspects are transferred to third countries without court approval, according to reports Friday in newspapers Corriere della Sera and Il Giorno.
Investigators traced the agents through check-in details at Milan hotels and their use of Italian cell phones during the operation, the reports said. All the agents are American and include three women, Il Giorno said.
The reports said another six agents were being investigated for helping prepare the operation.
They said police also received an eyewitness account from an Egyptian woman who heard Omar calling for help and saw him being bundled into a white van as he walked from his house to a mosque.
The report said Omar was taken to Aviano, a joint U.S.-Italian base north of Venice, and was flown from there to another U.S. air base in Ramstein, Germany, before being taken in a second jet to Cairo. (link)
Good for the Italians. The CIA actions sound like the behavior of a criminal gang, and that's not even getting into the rendition and torture."
(Via Al-Muhajabah's Islamic Blogs.)
If they are guilty (and I'd be more surprised if they weren't), I hope they're convicted and given very long prison sentences. I'm not familiar with Italy's laws, but under US law (which agents of the US government will never answer to), those men would be facing up to ten years in prison.
10:55:34 AM 
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