Italian govt rebuffs pressure on CIA kidnap case

By Phil Stewart

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s justice minister accused
magistrates of trying to force his hand in a case against 22
CIA agents who are accused of kidnapping a Muslim imam off the
streets of Milan and flying him to Egypt for torture.

Justice Minister Roberto Castelli is under pressure to
approve a request by magistrates to seek the extradition of the
American suspects, a move which political analysts believe is
unlikely given the government’s close ties with Washington.

Castelli cautioned on Thursday that his decision involved
“interests of the state” and added there was no time limit for
him to make a decision.

“The law gives the Justice Ministry the faculty to decide
taking into account the interests of the state,” Castelli said
in comments to Italian media confirmed by his spokeswoman.

“The pressuring from them is completely unjust.”

Chief Prosecutor Armando Spataro has said a CIA team seized
terrorism suspect Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu
Omar, in Milan in 2003 and flew him for interrogation in Egypt.
He says evidence showed Nasr was tortured there.

Spataro, who says he is ready to try the Americans in
absentia, has repeatedly criticized Castelli for footdragging
and on Thursday he issued a statement rebuffing the minister.

In it, he said four months had passed since he had made the
extradition request, adding that the government risked
breaching the “reasonable” length of time envisioned by law.

“No ‘matters of state’ can justify avoiding the
requirements of the law and the principle of loyal co-operation
between institutions,” he said.

He added he had no objection to the ministry considering
state interests “among which I imagine is the protection of the
Italian state’s violated sovereignty.”

Washington has not directly responded to the accusations.

Italian investigators have accused Nasr of ties to al Qaeda
and Spataro has said the U.S. abduction ruined his own
investigation into Abu Omar and other terrorism suspects.

He told European lawmakers in Brussels last week that
“other accomplices would have been identified” had Italian
authorities been able to continue their investigation.

The European Parliament and the Council of Europe are
watching the Italian case carefully as they move ahead with
their own investigations into suspected U.S. anti-terrorism
operations, including running secret prisons in eastern Europe.

German and Swiss prosecutors are also looking into other
accusations of U.S. covert transport of detainees, a process
known as “rendition.”