CIA verdict, Frattini sympathises
'I don't think agents will go to jail' for imam snatch
05 November, 18:12
(ANSA) - Rome, November 5 - Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Thursday he sympathised with the United States' disappointment at a Milan court's Tuesday conviction of CIA agents in the rendition of an Egyptian cleric in 2003.
Frattini said he sympathised with US concerns but noted that the Italian government had obtained a state secrecy injunction in the case that resulted in three CIA operatives obtaining immunity.
In the verdict, 22 ex-agents and a retired Air Force colonel were found guilty in absentia in the abduction of former Milan imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.
Italy's judiciary, which is independent of the government, went ahead with the case despite a successful government suit invoking secrecy that ruled out much evidence.
The US, and the agents themselves, have said they are worried they will be international fugitives but Frattini said: ''I don't think those US operatives will go to jail''.
''Judges' decisions have to be respected even when you don't agree with them,'' he said.
Some US news outlets had speculated that the government might try to obtain a pardon by appealing to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who is titular head of the judiciary.
The two-year Milan trial was the first case in which the controversial US practice of 'extraordinary rendition' had been challenged in court.
Some think the verdict may set a precedent.
Rendition was first authorised by Bill Clinton in the 1990s and stepped up when George W.Bush declared war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Barack Obama has not stopped renditions but the US for some years has been denying torture.
Nasr, an Islamist who was accused of recruiting jihadi fighters, claims he was tortured and threatened with rape in Cairo.
He and his wife were awarded 1.5 million euros in damages in Tuesday's verdict.
Two top Italian former spies were cleared because of secrecy norms while two less senior operatives were convicted.
Successive Italian governments denied all knowledge of the case and consistently ruled out the possibility of extradition.
