Editing Extraordinary rendition (section)

=== Abu Omar case ===
{{Main|Abu Omar case}}

In 2003, [[Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr]] (aka "Abu Omar") was kidnapped by the CIA in [[Milan]] (Italy),<ref name="fotocia">{{cite web |url=http://www.corriere.it/Primo_Piano/Esteri/2005/11_Novembre/11/imam.shtml |title=Foto della Cia svela il sequestro dell'imam |trans-title=Photo of the CIA reveals the kidnapping of the imam |work=Corriere della Sera |date=12 November 2005 |language=it}}</ref> and deported to Egypt. His case has been characterized by the Swiss senator [[Dick Marty]] as a "perfect example of extraordinary rendition".<ref name="Bbc060124" /> Abu Omar was kidnapped as he walked to his mosque in Milan for noon prayers.<ref name="Fig">{{cite news |url=http://www.lefigaro.fr/international/20060224.FIG000001516_auditions_sur_le_rapt_d_un_imam_par_la_cia.html |title=Auditions sur le rapt d'un imam par la CIA |trans-title=Hearings on the abduction of an imam by the CIA |work=[[Le Figaro]] |date=24 February 2006 |language=fr}}</ref> He was transported on a [[Learjet]] (using the  [[call sign]] SPAR 92) to [[Ramstein Air Base|Ramstein]], Germany. SPAR (Special Air Resources) is the call sign used by US senior military officers and civilian VIPs for airlift transport.<ref name="ciamethods">{{cite news |last=Hooper |first=J. |url=https://www.theguardian.com/italy/story/0,12576,1519576,00.html |title=CIA methods exposed by kidnap inquiry |work=The Guardian|location=London |date=2 July 2005}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article732439.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070220194441/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article732439.ece |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 February 2007 |title=US military planes criss-cross Europe using bogus call sign |work=[[The Sunday Times]] |date=19 February 2006 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> A second plane took him to [[Cairo]], where he was imprisoned and, he claims, tortured.<ref name="italydidntknow">Wilkinson, T. and G. Miller.  (2005).  [https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/861434211.html?dids=861434211:861434211&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+1%2C+2005&author=Tracy+Wilkinson+and+Greg+Miller&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=Italy+Says+It+Didn%27t+Know+of+CIA+Plan "Italy Says It Didn't Know of CIA Plan"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130405112225/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/861434211.html?dids=861434211:861434211&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+1%2C+2005&author=Tracy+Wilkinson+and+Greg+Miller&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=A.1&desc=Italy+Says+It+Didn%27t+Know+of+CIA+Plan |date=5 April 2013 }}, ''Los Angeles Times'', 1 July 2005.</ref>

In 2005, the Italian judge Guido Salvini issued a warrant for the arrest of 13 persons said to be agents or operatives of the CIA in association with Nasr's kidnapping. In December 2005, an Italian court issued a [[European arrest warrant]] against 22 CIA agents suspected of this kidnapping (including [[Robert Seldon Lady]], [[Eliana Castaldo]], Lt. Col. [[Joseph L. Romano]], III, etc.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.statewatch.org/cia/documents/milan-tribunal-19-us-citizens-sought.pdf |title=Milan tribunal document }}&nbsp;{{small|(1.44&nbsp;MB)}}, published by [[Statewatch]], 22 June 2005</ref>). The CIA has not commented on the case, while [[Silvio Berlusconi|Berlusconi]]'s government has denied any knowledge of a kidnapping plot.<ref name="Bbc051223">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4555660.stm | title=EU-wide warrant over 'CIA kidnap' |publisher=BBC News|access-date=7 September 2006|date=23 December 2005 }}</ref> Just after the [[2006 Italian general election]]s, [[Roberto Castelli]] ([[Lega Nord]]), outgoing Justice Minister, declared to Italian prosecutors that he had not passed the [[extradition]] request to the US.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The politics of Italy|last=Newell|first=James L.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2010|isbn=9780521600460|pages=373}}</ref>

In 2005, ''The Washington Post'' reported Italian court documents which showed that the CIA tried to mislead Italian anti-terrorism police who were looking for the cleric at the time. Robert S. Lady, the CIA's substation chief in Milan, has been implicated in the abduction. In a written opinion upholding the arrest warrant, judge Enrico Manzi wrote that the evidence taken from Lady's home "removes any doubt about his participation in the preparatory phase of the abduction."<ref name="WaPo051206">{{cite news | title=CIA Ruse is Said to Have Damaged Probe in Milan: Italy Allegedly Misled on Cleric's Abduction |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/04/AR2005120400885.html |access-date=18 December 2005 |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=6 December 2005 |first=Craig |last=Whitlock}}</ref> Lady, however, alleged that the evidence had been gathered illegally, and has denied involvement in the abduction.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20051205/028234.html |title=Former CIA Agent to Fight Italian Warrant |date=9 December 2005 |agency=Associated Press |access-date=23 June 2009}}</ref> Photos of Robert (Bob) Lady and other defendants surfaced on the Web.<ref>Renditioner photos: [http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/03/30/18385947.php Wanted Poster for CIA's Robert Lady in Imam Rapito], ''[[Indymedia]] San Francisco'', 30 March 2007.</ref>

[[Marco Mancini]], the [[SISMI]] director of anti-terrorism and counterespionage, and Gustavo Pignero, the department's director in 2003, have been arrested on charges of complicity in a kidnapping, with the aggravating circumstances of [[abuse of power]]. Italian judges have issued 26 EU arrest warrants for U.S. citizens in connection with this event.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/5149464.stm |title=Italians held over 'CIA kidnap' |publisher=BBC News |date=5 July 2006 |access-date=27 January 2007}}</ref> A judge also issued arrest warrants for four Americans, three CIA agents and an [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] officer who commanded the [[Air Force Security Forces|security forces]] at [[Aviano Air Base]] at the time of the abduction.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0705-06.htm |title=Italian Spies Arrested, Americans Sought for Kidnap |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130618153022/http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0705-06.htm |archivedate=18 June 2013 |agency=[[Reuters]] |date=5 July 2006 |website=[[Common Dreams]]}}</ref>

In 2007, Nasr's lawyer said Egypt had released him and he was back with his family.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/6352717.stm |title=Egypt releases 'rendition' cleric |publisher=BBC News |date=12 February 2007}}</ref>

In 2009, an Italian judge convicted 22 suspected or known CIA agents, a U.S. Air Force (USAF) colonel, and two Italian secret agents of the kidnapping. These were the first legal convictions in the world against people involved in the CIA's extraordinary renditions program.