Italy seeks US diplomat in CIA renditions case

Saturday, 1 October 2005, 08:30

An American diplomat is being sought for questioning by Italian authorities investigating the alleged 2003 kidnapping of Egyptian-born cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, who is also known as Abu Omar.

According to Italian daily La Stampa and the Los Angeles Times, a 38-year-old woman who worked at the U.S. embassy in Rome who now works in Latin America is being sought by authorities investigating the case, believed to be an instance of the CIA practice of “extraordinary rendition”.

Abu Omar, who had been granted political asylum in Italy, was suspected of having links with Ansar al-Islam, but Italian authorities had not had enough evidence to arrest him before he was snatched in Milan and taken to the Aviano Air Base, from where he was flown to Egypt for questioning and, allegedly, torture.

Earlier this summer, an Italian judge issued warrants for the arrest of 21 other individuals believed to be CIA operatives in the case and named Robert Seldon Lady as the former CIA station chief in Milan.

The scandal has been a cause for tensions between Rome and Washington.

Entry Filed under: Extraordinary Rendition