Posted on 02/12/2007 4:13:14 PM PST by LibWhacker
A Muslim cleric freed from prison in Egypt on Sunday four years after he was grabbed in a Milan street in a suspected CIA kidnapping says the ordeal had made him a wreck.
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, has alleged that Egyptian guards tortured him with electric shocks, beatings, rape threats and genital abuse.
He said after his release he had no plans to return to his former home in Italy to give evidence, as a judge considers indicting 26 Americans on charges related to the kidnapping.
"I've been reduced to a wreck of a human being," said Nasr.
"I cannot speak. I cannot leave the country. I don't want to go to prison again."
A judge has issued an arrest warrant for Nasr in Italy arising from an investigation into his possible links to terrorist activities, including recruiting combatants for Iraq.
While the investigation into Nasr's possible criminal role is still inconclusive, prosecutors say they have evidence to convict the Americans, including the former CIA chief in Italy, for kidnapping the imam in Milan in February 2003.
They also want to try six Italians, including the former head of military intelligence, for helping the CIA.
Asked whether Nasr would remain silent about what had happened to him in detention, lawyer Montasser al-Zayat told Reuters in Egypt that he had "(chosen) to live, and avoid the painful years he's lived through... he wants to raise his children".
However Zayat, in comments to Italian agencies, reiterated plans to sue former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
Berlusconi has denied any knowledge of a plan to kidnap Nasr, but kept files about the case classified.
Prime Minister Romano Prodi said in an interview with an Indian newspaper published at the weekend that his government opposed renditions, one of the most controversial aspects of US President George W. Bush's "war on terrorism".
Prodi confirmed that he had decided to keep some documents classified that were related to the case because he was bound by a law protecting state secrets.
"My government is against any rendition but the case that you refer to concerns state secrets," Prodi told the Hindu.
"According to the rules, these files cannot be made public and I have reconfirmed that.
There are still discussions on this subject, but for the moment I have not changed the policy of my predecessor."
Asked whether he was using state secrets to cover up illegal activity, Prodi said: "I am not covering up anything. It is a case of continuity."
Zayat told Reuters on Sunday that a court had ordered Nasr to be freed, and the Interior Ministry had complied.
While Nasr was initially charged with membership of an illegal organisation, the charges were later dropped and he was briefly released in April 2004 before being detained without charge under Egypt's emergency laws.
His lawyer had said he believed Nasr was re-arrested after ignoring warnings not to speak to anyone about the kidnapping and rendition.
He had called his wife and friends in Italy, recounted details of the abduction which were recorded in police wiretaps and helped Milan prosecutors reconstruct the kidnapping.
Do an Abby Hoffman
lol!!!
Sing friggin' loi!
Me too ... he wrote "Steal This Book" ... my comment was meant for you to click properties and copy the gif ... I stole that one some months ago from another FreepeR.
Thanks
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