Italy issues warrant for CIA team

MILAN (Reuters) - A Milan court has issued a European arrest warrant for 22
CIA agents suspected of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric from Italy's financial capital in 2003, Prosecutor Armando Spataro said on Friday.

he case is one of several investigations into whether U.S. intelligence agents used Europe to illegally transfer militant suspects to third countries for interrogation. The renditions have led to tensions between Washington and the European Union.

Milan magistrates suspect a CIA team grabbed Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr off a Milan street and flew him for interrogation to Egypt, where he said he was tortured.

Prosecutors asked the Italian Justice Ministry last month to seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States, but Justice Minister Roberto Castelli has not yet decided whether to act on the request.

A EU warrant is automatically valid across the 25-nation bloc and does not require the approval of any government.

The warrant was agreed by the European Union in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001 and was hailed as a key part of the bloc's fight against terrorism.

Under the agreement, any EU member state can ask another to hand over a suspect and in most cases, the other state will have to comply.

Spataro told Reuters he had also asked Interpol to try to detain the agents anywhere in the world.

The U.S. embassy in Rome was not immediately available for comment and telephone calls seeking comment from the White House, Justice Department,
Central Intelligence Agency and State Department were not immediately returned.

RULE BOOKS

Earlier this week, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he did not believe CIA agents had kidnapped Nasr, but added governments would not defeat terrorism by playing by the rules.

Justice officials believe Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, is still in custody in Egypt. Italian investigators have accused him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for Iraq, and a Milan judge has issued a warrant for his arrest.

Before his disappearance, investigators had closely monitored Nasr, hoping phone conversations would provide clues about planned militant attacks in Europe. But their probe was cut short when the imam vanished on February 17, 2003.

Court documents show the CIA agents accused of kidnapping Nasr on that day left ample documentation of their stay in Italy. Many of them presented frequent-client cards when they registered at hotels and prosecutors have one of the agent's United Airlines frequent flyer number.

About a year after he vanished, Nasr was able to make two telephone calls -- to his wife, Ghali Nabila, and to a religious leader in Milan named Mohamed Reda, the document said.

Nasr said in the calls he had been sent to Alexandria in Egypt and had been tortured with electric shock and exposure to extreme noise and temperatures. He was allegedly re-arrested by the Egyptians for recounting the ordeal.

Details about the renditions are emerging at a time when the United States also faces allegations that the CIA has run secret prisons in Europe and elsewhere.

German citizen Khaled el-Masri says he was abducted in Macedonia in 2003 and flown to
Afghanistan by U.S. officials. He is now suing the CIA for wrongful imprisonment.