Italian Court Convicts CIA Agents Over Extraordinary Rendition.

In 2003, the CIA abducted radical Islamic cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr aka Abu Omar, from Milan, Italy. The CIA then reportedly lied to Italian authorities about his disappearance to cover their tracks. Omar was then flown to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured.

An Italian prosecutor quoted by the Washington Post back in 2005 criticized the U.S. for dodging the criminal justice system:

“The kidnapping of Abu Omar was not only a serious crime against Italian sovereignty and human rights, but it also seriously damaged counterterrorism efforts in Italy and Europe,” said Armando Spataro, the lead prosecutor in Milan. “In fact, if Abu Omar had not been kidnapped, he would now be in prison, subject to a regular trial, and we would have probably identified his other accomplices.”

Italian authorities indicted the 23 CIA agents they allege were involved with Omar’s rendition, and today the 23,  were convicted in absentia of kidnapping, along with two Italian agents. This case has always puzzled me — Italy is an ally. Why was extraordinary rendition necessary? Such methods are usually reserved for apprehending individuals in countries that are not friendly to the United States precisely because those countries won't cooperate. Sometimes these things occur in countries where the host government can't be seen as helping out the U.S., but under those circumstances my understanding is the U.S. still gets under-the-table permission to act.

I will say this though, convicting people in absentia? Not such a big fan of that.

UPDATE: The Times reports that actually, no Italians were convicted, because of "state secrecy":

Judge Oscar Magi handed an eight-year sentence to Robert Seldon Lady, a former C.I.A. station chief in Milan, and five-year sentences to 22 other Americans. Three of the other high-ranking Americans were given diplomatic immunity, including Jeffrey Castelli, a former C.I.A. station chief in Rome.

The judge did not convict three high-ranking Italians charged in the abduction, citing state secrecy, and a former head of Italian military intelligence, Nicolò Pollari, also received diplomatic immunity. All the Americans were tried in absentia and are considered fugitives.

Kevin Drum comments:

Let me get this straight: the Italian judge was happy to convict a bunch of Americans who he knew would never pay a price since they'll never be extradited, but he wasn't willing to convict the Italians involved in all this, who would have paid a price. You'll excuse me, I hope, if I don't exactly see this as a triumph of judicial independence. Convicting a bunch of foreigners is easy. It's holding your own people to account that's hard. Wake me up when either of our countries starts doing that.

This, quite frankly makes me very suspicious of what the Italian government actually knew about the kidnapping.It all kind of reminds me of the Obama administration crowing about transparency while invoking the state secrets doctrine every five minutes.

— A. Serwer