CIA Flights: Muslim Cleric Says He Was Kidnapped, Tortured By Italians
A Muslim cleric allegedly abducted by CIA agents in Milan in 2003 says in a document presented to Italian prosecutors that Italian agents participated in the operation and tortured him. In the document, which was obtained by Italy's largest circulation paper Corriere della Sera and published on Thursday, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, says two of the kidnappers were "very Italian." He thus contradicts claims by Italian military intelligence chief Nicolo Pollari that Italy knew nothing of the plan and that the operation was possibly the fake abduction of an informer.
In his diary of the abduction, Abu Omar recollects how he was seized by agents as he was walking in a street in Italy's financial capital and forced to get inside a van, where he claims two Italian agents had to carry out a chest massage after he was so badly beaten. "I heard the two Italians discuss and one of the two was screaming," Abu Omar writes. "They tore away my clothes and performed a chest massage."
The cleric then claims that he was taken to an airport and transported to Egypt where he was questioned and repeatedly tortured. "The first time that (Egyptian officials) tortured me, they swore against me and Italy, saying that it had given me political asylum. They told me: Italy handed you over to Egypt and no one has come from Italy to free you from these tortures."
Posted by: Fred 2006-11-10 |