http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hB92P09A5U_XP2VP-KTFR3ZniC1A
AFP 101216
Italian court increases sentences for 23 CIA agents
by Ella Ide
ROME An Italian court upped the sentences for
23 CIA agents convicted in absentia of abducting
an Egyptian imam in one of the biggest cases
against the US "extraordinary rendition" programme.
The 23 CIA agents, originally sentenced in
November 2009 to five to eight years in prison,
had their sentences increased to seven to nine
years on appeal in what one of the defence
lawyers described as a "shocking blow" for the US.
They were also ordered to pay 1.5 million euros
(two million dollars) in damages to the imam and
his wife for the 2003 abduction.
Washington has refused to extradite the agents,
who all remain at liberty but now risk arrest if they travel to Europe.
Osama Mustafa Hassan, a radical Islamist
opposition figure better known as Abu Omar, was
snatched from a street in Milan in 2003 in an
operation coordinated by the CIA and the Italian
military intelligence agency SISMI.
Abu Omar, who enjoyed political asylum in Italy,
was then allegedly taken to the Aviano US air
base in northeastern Italy, then flown to a US
base in Germany, and on to Cairo, where he says he was tortured.
Among the defendants sentenced on Wednesday was
Bob Seldon Lady, former head of the CIA station
in Milan, whose sentence was increased to nine
years from eight. The other 22 agents had their
sentences upped from five to seven years.
Guido Meroni, a defence lawyer for six of the 23
agents, said he believed the sentences had been
increased because the court had rejected the
mitigating circumstances that had led to the original judgement.
"The judges had originally ruled they had just
been following orders, but it seems the court of
appeals didn't agree," he told AFP.
"I am surprised. I didn't think the sentences
would be increased. Of course we will take it to the supreme court," he added.
The court also acquitted the then head of Italian
military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, and his
assistant Marco Mancini, because producing
evidence against them would have violated state secrecy rules.
In an earlier hearing on Wednesday, the court
ordered a re-trial for three other CIA officers,
including the then CIA chief for Italy Jeffrey
Castelli, because of irregularities in the appeal procedures.
In the first trial they had benefited from
diplomatic immunity and had been acquitted.
Their lawyer, Alessia Sorgato, said the court had
taken a hard line against the other agents.
"It's a shocking blow for the Americans," she said.
Amnesty International welcomed the judgement, but
said that Italy's role in the affair should also be examined.
"The Italian government and its officials should
not be able to use 'state secrecy' as a shield to
cover up human rights abuse," said Amnesty's
counter-terrorism specialist Julia Hall.
"The government must engage in a full and fair
accountability process even if its official are
embarrassed or even vulnerable to criminal
charges for their actions," she added.
"Kidnapping is a crime, not a 'state secret'."
The "extraordinary rendition" programme was
launched in 2003 by then US president George W.
Bush and saw scores of suspects returned to their
home countries, some of which were known to use torture.
Abu Omar's US captors failed to take many
standard precautions, notably speaking openly on
cell phones, leaving investigators to suspect
they had cleared their intentions with Italian intelligence.
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