Abu Omar case

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The Abu Omar case was the abduction and transfer to Egypt of the imam of Milan Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. The case became one of the best-documented instances of extraordinary rendition carried out in a joint operation by the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Italian Military Intelligence and Security Service (SISMI) during the war on terror declared by the George W. Bush administration. Nasr was abducted on February 17, 2003, in Milan by agents of SISMI and the CIA, and transported to Aviano Air Base, from which he was flown to Egypt. There he was imprisoned for four years without charges, secluded, interrogated, and, according to journalist Glenn Greenwald, tortured by the Mubarak regime. The CIA operation interrupted an Italian surveillance program investigating Nasr's alleged participation in Islamist organizations. Despite the disruption, Abu Omar was indicted on international terrorism charges in Italy in 2005. The Italian government initially denied any role in the abduction, though the Italian press described a "CIA–SISMI concerted operation." Nasr was released by an Egyptian court in February 2007, which ruled his detention "unfounded." Italian prosecutors Armando Spataro and Ferdinando Pomarici indicted 26 CIA agents, including Rome station chief Jeffrey W. Castelli and Milan chief of base Robert Seldon Lady, as well as SISMI director General Nicolò Pollari, his deputy Marco Mancini, and station chiefs Raffaele Ditroia, Luciano Di Gregori, and Giuseppe Ciorra. Prosecutors requested extradition of the indicted Americans through Italy's Ministry of Justice, then headed by Roberto Castelli, who declined to forward the request to Washington. The case caused controversy inside the CIA after it became public in 2005. CIA director Porter J. Goss ordered the agency's inspector general to review the operation, but Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then head of the National Clandestine Service, halted...