Historic Abu Omar rendition trial ends with conviction of CIA officers for abduction

Robert Lady, the former head of the CIA in Milan, has been given an eight-year jail sentence for kidnapping at the end of the first trial anywhere in the world in which CIA officials were sentenced for the practice of extraordinary rendition.Lady was tried in his absence and convicted of helping to organise the seizure [...]

Prison sought for 26 Americans in extraordinary rendition case of Abu Omar

In his closing speech of the Abu Omar trial prosecutor Armando Spataro asked a Milan Court yesterday to sentence 26 Americans to jail terms ranging from 10 to 13 years for the abduction of Abu Omar. Spataro argued that a guilty verdict and strong sentence for the defendants, most of them CIA agents, would help [...]

Italy expels Tunisian terrorist defying a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights

Ali Toumi, who is married to an Italian and has three children, had been fighting extradition for fear of torture in Tunisia. The Tunisian had been sentenced to six years in prison in 2003 for trying to recruit volunteers for operations in Iraq. He had served his sentence and had since May 18 been in [...]

Former CIA agent appears to acknowledge CIA kidnapping

In an interview published on Tuesday, June 30, former CIA agent Robert Seldon Lady seemed to acknowledge his involvement in the 2003 abduction of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. Nasr, who was released without charge in 2007, alleges that following his kidnapping in Milan, he was transferred to Egypt, [...]

Italy: Stricter detention conditions for terrorist and Mafa suspects passed into law

On 2 July, the Senate passed into law a Security Bill, which provides for stricter conditions of detention for persons suspected or convicted of terrorism or Mafa- related offences. Such modifcations concern the “hard penitentiary regime” and, among others, may serve to restrict communications and visits by detainees’ counsel and unduly restrict the right of [...]

Italy expels Palestinian hijacker to Syria

A lawyer says Italian authorities are set to expel to Syria one of the Palestinians who hijacked the Achille Lauro cruise ship and killed an American passenger in 1985. Attorney Gianfranco Pagano said Youssef Magied al-Molqui was about to be flown from Palermo, Sicily, to Rome and then on to Damascus last Saturday.In April, Al-Molqui [...]

CIA official files lawsuit against State Departmen to invoke diplomatic immunity in Abu Omar case

Italian prosecutors have claimed that the former official, Sabrina De Sousa, 53, was a C.I.A. officer serving under diplomatic cover in the United States Consulate in Milan at the time the cleric, known as Abu Omar, was grabbed on the street by American counterterrorism officers.
In the lawsuit, filed in United States District Court in Washington, [...]

Italy: Constitutional Court recognizes wide discretion by the Government on state secrets

On 3 April, the Constitutional Court published its opinion on the use of the state secrecy doctrine by the Government in the rendition case of Abu Omar.
According to the pleas filed by State lawyer on behalf of the Prime ministers state secrecy would have been violated by Milan prosecutor’s office during three stages of [...]

Italy arrests five people for distributing bomb-making instructions online

Italy’s telecommunications police have arrested five people in the southern city of Catania for distributing bomb-making instructions on Internet websites.
The probe originated during a routine monitoring of Internet services by telecommunications police, who found websites alleged to have been illegally distributing information for the building and use of explosive devices.
During the probe, police said they [...]

ECHR finds violation of article 3 in 8 more Tunesian deportation cases

The applicants are Tunisian nationals living in Italy: Mohamed Abdelhedi, Ben Salah, Maher Ben Abdelaziz Bouyahia, C.B.Z., Kamel Darraji, Kamel Ben Boundi Hamraoui, O. and Mohamed Ben Salah Soltana. The Court reiterated Saadi again, saying that it saw no reason to review its conclusions there, “which had moreover been confirmed by Amnesty International’s report on [...]