Untitled Document
July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Italian prosecutors today sought arrest warrants for six
more people they say are U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operatives who helped
kidnap an Egyptian Muslim preacher from a Milan street more than two years ago.
Prosecutor Armando Spataro asked a three-judge appeals panel to reconsider
a decision last month that left the six out of an arrest warrant issued for
13 other U.S. citizens said to be CIA agents, according to court documents for
the appeal.
The suspected CIA agents allegedly kidnapped Egyptian citizen Nasr Osama Moustafa
Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, in Feb. 2003. Hassan was then flown to Egypt
from a U.S. air base at Aviano, Italy after stopping at a U.S. base at Ramstein,
Germany, according the Milan prosecutor's office.
The kidnapping was ``totally illegal'' and ``not only seriously violated Italian
sovereignty, but also hurt the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism,''
the prosecutor Spataro wrote in the appeal documents.
Milan-based judge Chiara Nobili issued the initial 13 arrest warrants at Spataro's
request on June 24 after agreeing there was enough evidence that those individuals
actively took part in the kidnapping. The other six were left out of the original
warrant because they were involved only in preparing the kidnapping.
Iraq War
Spataro argued today that even studying Hassan's movements to assist in planning
the abduction was reason for arrest.
The prosecutors said they believe all 19 suspects have left Italy. Italy's
government has denied that it or Italian police and intelligence services knew
of the plan to abduct Hassan as the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
seeks to avoid a domestic conflict or spat with the U.S. over the kidnapping.
Berlusconi backed U.S. President George W. Bush's war in Iraq and sent about
3,000 Italian soldiers to the country. He's seeking to rebuild support before
elections next year. Romano Prodi, the opposition head who leads Berlusconi
in opinion polls, today said he would withdraw Italy's troops from Iraq and
said the U.S.-led war there should never have been waged.
The cleric Hassan, who had been granted political asylum, was under observation
by Italian police for alleged involvement in recruiting terrorists in Italy.
Prosecutors were able to track the CIA agents' movements partly by using wiretaps
on the phones of Hassan and his acquaintances that gave investigators details
of Hassan's whereabouts and the details of the kidnapping.
