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ABC News' Rachel Martin reports: The US intelligence gathering program known as “extraordinary rendition” was essentially put on trial for the first time - in Italy - and this week the court rendered a guilty verdict. Italian Judge Oscar Magi convicted 23 Americans of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric on a street in Milan, Italy. The cleric, known as Abu Omar, alleged that he was abducted by CIA operatives who then shuttled him between US bases in Europe and then moved him to Egypt where Omar says he was tortured. The Italian judge tried the Americans, all but...

About Italian Jurisprudence and American National Security by a pro-American judge in Catania Italy http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=31133

The counter counterterrorism campaign is getting drubbed in Italy too. The Italians did the same thing a federal judge in California did to the ACLU. http://www.thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/16/news/world/doc49bde8ec84d3d795876361.txt

U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

A leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq has been sentenced to death for the killing of the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho. The archbishop of the northern city of Mosul was kidnapped in February by gunmen who attacked his car, killing his driver and two bodyguards. His body was found in a shallow grave two weeks later. The Iraqi government said the criminal court had imposed the death sentence on Ahmed Ali Ahmed, known as Abu Omar. The US embassy in Baghdad welcomed the verdict. Who are the Chaldeans? "Reiterating our condolences to the archbishop's family and community, we commend...

On Saturday, Abu Omar al Baghdadi, Emir of the Islamic state of Iraq, released a 23 minute audio statement yesterday announcing his plan to counter the US troop surge. He claimed North Korea owes a debt to the Iraqi jihadists because without them they could not have conducted their nuclear test. He also claims that he expects the US to attack the Iranian nuclear facilities. A complete translation follow: All praise is due to Allah. We praise him, we beg for His help, and ask for His forgiveness. We ask for the protection of Allah against the evil and we...

A Muslim cleric has claimed to have been tortured with electric shocks, left in a cell where rats crawled on him and threatened with rape after he was allegedly kidnapped from a Milan street by CIA agents three years ago.The claims of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, appeared in an affidavit provided to Milan prosecutors investigating his alleged abduction in February 2003, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported yesterday. Prosecutors say that the cleric, who was formerly suspected of links to terrorism, was driven to the Aviano military air base and flown via Germany to...

“We are the energy behind the path to jihad,” Abu Omar said proudly. “Just like the jihadis reached their target on Sept. 11, we will reach ours through the Internet.” Abu Omar, 28, is part of an increasingly sophisticated network of contributors and discussion leaders helping to wage Al Qaeda’s battle for Muslim hearts and minds. A self-described Qaeda sympathizer who defends the Sept. 11 attacks and continues to find inspiration in Osama bin Laden’s call for jihad, Abu Omar is part of a growing army of young men who may not seek to take violent action, but who help...

According to various reports from credible mujahideen sources, Abu Omar Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Saif (a.k.a. Mohammed bin Abdullah bin Saif al-Jaber)--a top tier Saudi Arabian Al-Qaida commander in Chechnya and personal military advisor to Shamil Basayev--has been killed during a Russian counterterrorism operation in neighboring Dagestan. Unable to escape after Russian soldiers backed by helicopters surrounded his temporary hideout, Abu Omar allegedly detonated an explosive device he was carrying and collapsed the building on top of himself. Known as the "Imam of the Chechen mujahideen", Abu Omar was an original founder of the Arab-Afghan mujahideen movement in Chechnya and was...

ROME, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Italian prosecutors have requested the extradition of 22 suspected CIA agents over the kidnapping of a terrorism suspect who was grabbed off a street in 2003 and taken abroad, a senior judicial source said on Friday. The request is now before Justice Minister Roberto Castelli, who can decide to make a formal request to the United States to pursue the case, said the source, who spoke on the condition that he remain anonymous. "The general prosecutor's office has requested the extradition," the well-placed source said. Prosecutors in the northern city of Milan believe that the...

Prosecutors in Italy have issued three more arrest warrants over the kidnapping of an Egyptian imam based in Milan by a team of CIA agents. Among those wanted in connection with the operation, which led to the man - Abu Omar - being tortured in Egypt, is a 38-year-old female CIA agent who was working as a diplomat at the US embassy in Rome and is said to have led the operation. Betnie Medero, who was second secretary at the embassy until a few months ago, is one of 22 CIA agents now wanted by Italian police over the kidnapping,...

WASHINGTON -- Italian prosecutors again sought arrest warrants Wednesday for six additional CIA operatives who they say took part in the abduction two years ago of a radical Islamic cleric. If granted, the prosecutors' request would bring to 19 the number of CIA personnel formally charged with the kidnapping in February 2003 of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, better known as Abu Omar. Milan's chief terrorism prosecutor, Armando Spataro, originally sought warrants for all 19, described in official documents as "a substantial group of persons belonging to the CIA of the United States or directly linked to it." ...

Last month, Italian authorities charged 13 CIA operatives with kidnapping an Islamic cleric known as Abu Omar. Now former Albanian intelligence officials reveal that the imam was once an informant valued by the CIA.

ROME - An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents for allegedly helping deport an imam to Egypt as part of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts, an Italian official familiar with the investigation said Friday. The agents are suspected in the seizure of an Egyptian-born imam identified as Abu Omar on the streets of Milan in February 2003, according to the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The U.S. Embassy in Rome declined to comment. Prosecutors believe the agents seized Omar as part of the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" program, in which terror...

Italy probes possible CIA role in abduction By John Crewdson (Chicago) Tribune senior correspondent An Italian prosecutor investigating the apparent kidnapping of a suspected Islamic militant in the streets of Milan served military authorities this week with a demand for records of flights into and out of a joint U.S.-Italian air base in northern Italy. Italian newspapers have reported that the prosecutor, Armando Spataro, is investigating the possible role of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in the disappearance of Osama Nasr Mostafa Hassan, better known as Abu Omar, a popular figure in Milan's Islamic community who vanished Feb. 17, 2003....

Italy orders arrest of CIA agents over Imams abduction 6/24/2005 10:45:00 PM GMT Italian authorities ordered the arrest of 13 CIA agents accused of kidnapping a Muslim leader Italian authorities ordered the arrest of 13 agents of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) accused of kidnapping a Muslim leader in northern Italy, an Italian newspaper reported on Friday. The arrest warrants were issued by Italian Judge Chiara Nobili at the request of the anti-terrorist division of the state prosecutor's office, the Corriere della Sera said. The 13 agents are suspected of kidnapping Osama Mustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Omar,...

MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - An Italian judge has ordered the arrest of 13 people linked to the CIA for "kidnapping" an Egyptian terrorism suspect in Milan and flying him to Egypt where he said he was tortured, judicial sources said on Friday. "In the judge's order, it (the abduction) is clearly attributed to the CIA," a source said.

ROME (AP) - An Italian prosecutor is investigating whether U.S. agents played a role in the alleged abduction from Milan of a suspected Islamic militant, according to news reports. The 41-year-old imam, identified as Abu Omar, disappeared in the northern Italian city in February 2003. Milan Prosecutor Armando Spataro is looking at whether he was seized in a CIA operation and flown to Egypt for interrogation, the Corriere della Sera and other newspapers have reported. Last week, the prosecutor visited a joint U.S.-Italian air base in Aviano to find documents on air and vehicle traffic that might shed light on...

KARACHI: Pakistan is likely to hand over the custody of Abu Omar, one of al-Qaeda militants nabbed from Gulshan-e-Maymar on Thursday, to the United States in a day or two, while his wife and three sons are likely to be flown to Morocco - their homeland - on Saturday. Highly placed sources disclosed this on Friday. "We have completed our investigations and are now satisfied that Abu Omar was not involved in any subversive activity in Pakistan," said a senior intelligence official, who wished not to be named. He said: "The investigations revealed that Abu Omar was trying to...