E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Andreas Solaro / AFP, file
Italian Intelligence agency (SISMI) chief Nicolo Pollari in 2006.
MILAN — Italy's former military intelligence chief was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for his role in the kidnapping of an Egyptian Muslim cleric in an operation organized by the United States.
An American former CIA station chief was this month sentenced in absentia to seven years in jail after imam Abu Omar was snatched from a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation during the United States' "war on terror."
The Milan appeals court sentenced Niccolo Pollari, former head of the Sismi military intelligence agency, to 10 years in prison and his former deputy Marco Mancini to nine years.
The court also awarded a provisional 1 million euros ($1.3 million) in damages to the imam, the Ansa news wire reported, as well as 500,000 euros to the imam's wife.
Nicola Madia, a lawyer for Pollari, said he was disturbed by the decision and that his client would appeal to Italy's highest court. Pollari will not have to go to jail until the appeals process has been exhausted.
Reuters, file
Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, speaks during a Reuters interview in his house in Alexandria, Egypt on May 13, 2008.
Madia said Pollari had not been able to defend himself properly because successive Italian governments had declared the case to be covered by state secrecy laws.
The sentences are part of the fallout from a campaign waged by then President George W. Bush after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Abu Omar says he was tortured for seven months after being flown to Egypt in what was known as an "extraordinary rendition" operation. He was a resident in Italy at the time of his abduction.
Former CIA Rome station chief Jeffrey Castelli and two other American officials were convicted in their absence by the Milan appeals court for their part in the operation but are unlikely to serve their sentences.
Human rights groups have been fighting to expose heavy-handed tactics used by the CIA during the Bush administration.
Related:
Italian court convicts 3 Americans in CIA kidnapping
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Dubya is an international war criminal and should be tried as such. Torture has never been legal.
Yes, him and Chaney were a real pair of thugs (with their gang of kosher neo-cons). They killed over half a million civilians in their stupid war on Iraq.
Hey Soft Dude, your soft in head. 82 democrats saw the same intel as GW and voted to go to war.
Liberal memories are selective at best. Let's take a trip memory lane, shall we??
I know facts hurt, but your precious dems VOTED for those wars:
And here's the quotes from all those democrats, with the same intelligence the republicans had, that believed Sadaam had WMD:
"One way or the other, we are determined to deny Iraq the capacity to develop weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to deliver them. That is our bottom line."
President Clinton, Feb. 4, 1998.
"If Saddam rejects peace and we have to use force, our purpose is clear. We want to seriously diminish the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program."
President Clinton, Feb. 17, 1998.
"Iraq is a long way from [here], but what happens there matters a great deal here. For the risks that the leaders of a rogue state will use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons against us or our allies is the greatest security threat we face."
Madeline Albright, Feb 18, 1998.
"Saddam Hussein has been engaged in the development of weapons of mass destruction technology which is a threat to countries in the region and he has made a mockery of the weapons inspection process."
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D, CA), Dec. 16, 1998.
"We know that he has stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons throughout his country."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
"Iraq's search for weapons of mass destruction has proven impossible to deter and we should assume that it will continue for as long as Saddam is in power."
Al Gore, Sept. 23, 2002.
"We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seing and developing weapons of mass destruction."
Sen. Ted Kennedy (D, MA), Sept. 27, 2002.
"I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force — if necessary — to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security."
Sen. John F. Kerry (D, MA), Oct. 9, 2002.
"In the four years since the inspectors left, intelligence reports show that Saddam Hussein has worked to rebuild his chemical and biological weapons stock, his missile delivery capability, and his nuclear program. He has also given aid, comfort, and sanctuary to terrorists, including al Qaeda members. It is clear, however, that if left unchecked, Saddam Hussein will continue to increase his capacity to wage biological and chemical warfare, and will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons."
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D, NY), Oct 10, 2002
Funny how you lefties seem to forget how the democrats believed Iraq had WMD before the war, too. But it sure is fun trying to rewrite history, huh?
These are the some of the same people who are running our country at this very moment.
The million euros should be a reward for Nicolo Pollari for good work to get rid of this Muslim thug. Egypt was the appropriate place to send that trouble maker.
Publius: Typical of a "Party Troll", you are using very selective intelligence. You're not even telling half the story. Go back a few years and tell the whole story or no story at all. And for those of you that think this guy as anything right, reconsider your thoughts. Bush & Cheney are criminals, and so are most of the politicians that mislead this country. Anyone with half a brain knows it.
You're missing the big picture. The fact that some democrats believed there were WMD is irrelevant. What's important is that the US, both parties, started a war with Iraq based on a false pretense, one that was hammered home night after night by Bush and his cronies until we invaded Iraq. Even as the war deescalated and no WMD were found Bush still kept insisting that the WMD were out there somewhere.
The Iraq war cost thousands of US soldier their lives, as well as thousands of Iraq citizen. We destabilized the region, bankrupted our economy, and all for nothing. Iraq had no WMD, they had no plans to attack the US, they weren't involved with the 9-11 attack.
Publius - Neither Democrats nor Republicans got that false intelligence from our intelligence agencies. They got it from neocon sources, "right wing think tanks", such as PNAC, the media, the Mossad and AIPAC. All those people wanted a war with Iraq.
Bush had access to all the intelligence and was the one, along with Cheney, who decided to go to war with Iraq. He said Iraq was manufacturing WMD, and implied Iraq had a nuclear weapons program, based on forged documents from Niger and aluminum tubes, which even I knew were unsuitable for nuclear weapons. I knew it because I did a bunch of research, before Bush even mentioned the tubes himself. If I knew they were unsuitable, I would hope your dimwitted president would also know. It was long suspected the Niger documents were forged. Ever wonder who forged them? How about why? Might those same people have been the ones who gave the baloney to those Democrats? Try answering those questions.
How about those mobile biological weapons labs which turned our to be for filling weather balloons? Can't you remember Bush telling us all that Iraq was a threat to the entire world? It was his war.
@Publius You are correct that Saddam Hussein had WMD's, in the form of nerve gas. We know this because we have the records to prove it, and we have the picture of Dick Cheney shaking Saddam's hand. These WMD's were sold to him so that we could covertly fund Saddam's war with Iran.
Most of the quotes you provided were prior to the W Bush Regime, and thus were provided by the United States under a republican president. How can you be so certain that the legislators you cite after W Bush took office saw the same intelligence that Bush saw? It's not too hard to imagine them sanitizing information to sway the votes his way.
Precisely the same technique was employed by the brand new Lyndon Johnson administration to dupe Congress into authorizing a buildup of US forces in Viet Nam. Johnson himself said after leaving office that for all he knew, we were "shooting at whales" in the Gulf of Tonkin "incident".
I guess selective amnesia has been going around, eh?
It's just so funny how everybody talks about the front runners (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc.) but nobody understands that those guys don't prepare the policy. Everything is "created"/"tailored" for them by the so-called "think tanks" (see RAND Corporation, AEI, etc.) and there is where the criminal brains sit. That's where you guys have to look much deeper into details.
Also it's funny that the American CIA officers left Italy and cannot be charged. What a cool game for them. It reminds me of the many Israeli "business men" who crashed companies or stole billions and then left the US.
It's a dog-eat-dog style international relationship. The smarter will outsmart the dumb ones. Now, with the education level in the US dropping so fast, I'm wondering who will turn out to be the smart country in the next 10 years.
Neither is terrorism though.
Are you forgetting the 1998 bombing of Baghdad by POTUS Clinton??? This four day bombing campaign killed 100s of thousands of civilians...
What about the Afghanistan ESCALATION by POTUS Obama??? His 'Just War' and the 'World-Wide' use of 'Armed drones' by the CIA...
Bush & the UK turned the Afghanistan 'Nation Building' over to the UN and 52+other countries, Dec 2001...
We will IGNORE what Saddam's regime was doing:
1. Paying successful terrorist bombers families up to $25k...
2. Was gassing 100s of thousands of his own people, Kurds and Iranians...
3. Tried to ASSASSINATE former POTUS Bush Sr...
4. Blocking the inspections of NEW atomic/chemical facilities by the UN inspectors...
5. Committing war crimes in Iran, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia...
Saddam and his other leaders were CONVICTED and/or put to DEATH for these actions...
Now tell me what the leaders of Libya and Syria have done???
The Italian Government is run by a pack of corrupt, incompetent morons who couldn't identify a terrorist if it bit them in the ass. And they were home to the Red Brigade.
It seems those idiots never learn their lesson. This guy is currently living in Egypt. I don't think he will be keeping the money. It will probably end up in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood.
I think this is called eating your own. Good luck in the appeals process.
Why was Bush and his other thugs not convicted of anything?
As with Nixon whereby Ford believed the country needed to heal and not move against Nixon, Obama apparently felt the same. Not for the same reason I think but because we were still fighting the two actions the previous administration had started and it would have been too much of a distraction. Now if any of them step out of the country where Interpol agents can arrest them you won't see anyone going after them I suspect.
Because they are not guilty of anything.
Iraq violated the articles of surrender
Actually all of Bush's thugs known to be directly involved in this case were previously convicted and there's a standing European Arrest Warrant for the arrest of these 26 CIA thugs.
None of them can travel to any EU country for the rest of their lives, unless they want to be arrested and rot in jail for their crimes.
You can view it as, why didn't Clinton get Kicked out of Office, Impeached, thrown in Jail for lying to a Federal Grand Jury. "I didn't have sexual relations with that person". Then teaching every 5th grader and up who's learning America History at that age while majority of schools required them to watch, but taught Sex education instead of Proper American History, when he should have been impeached and put in prison, "what's Oral Sex Mommy".
Anyone that had business with Bush and the band of criminals from 2000 to 2008 are now wishing they didn't.
"Madia said Pollari had not been able to defend himself properly because successive Italian governments had declared the case to be covered by state secrecy laws."
good, it's the same reason alot of the suspected terrorists couldn't defend themselves. turnabout's fair play.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why the former President and Vice President are afraid to travel abroad.
BS. They still have diplomatic immunity.
There is no "diplomatic immunity" for torture or conspiracy to torture. And signatories to the Convention Against Torture have an affirmative obligation to arrest anyone suspected of those crimes.
The fear of arrest is why Bush canceled a trip to Geneva in February 2011.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/05/us-bush-torture-idUSTRE7141CU20110205
Cheney was in Vancouver (Canada) in 2011 - he wasn't arrested.
There were plenty of protests calling for it, though.
No surprise at all that the right-wing Harper government ignored their treaty obligations.
Cheney did however cancel a trip to Canada in April 2012 out of fears of arrest. Apparently pressure has been growing on Harper to arrest the war criminals the next time they try to enter Canada.
http://jonathanturley.org/2012/03/13/cheney-cancels-meeting-in-canada-with-spectre-out-of-concerns-over-attempts-to-arrest-him/
Shut the CIA down !!!!!!
The only thing they seem good at is committing terroristic acts, torture, destroying democracy, and assisting dictators/military juntas.
Ridiculous statement.
The CIA does as it is instructed. If you don't like it, change the American leadership; in other words, fire the president, the vice president, and/or the congressional leaders who charge the CIA to conduct these despicable actions. But before you do, keep in mind that the world in which the CIA works is a nasty one. We need the CIA to "modify" those people/countries who wish us harm.
I do not and never have supported the Cheney/Bush regime. Both should be literally hanged for their irresponsible adventures in the Middle East.
The Motto, you never hear the GOOD or what we've done to protect and save our country, America. But will certainly hear the failures. How True.
Since it's inception the CIA has done scores of terrible things. I can't think of one example where the American people have benefitted from having the CIA.
Changing the American leadership through the current, and pointless, voting system and structure will do nothing. The same terrible acts have been committed by the CIA since the beginning no matter who is in office. Don't be naive.
And yes, our leadership deserves part of the blame, but the CIA also is allowed to fund itself, primarily through the drug trade, so our leaders don't have to account or explain the funding for their terrors.
"Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time, and your government when it deserves it." - Mark Twain
High lights of the CIA:
1. They trained Tibetan FREEDOM Fighters to counter the Chinese invasion...
2. They trained and organised the 'Bay of Pigs'...
3. They assisted in many of the Cambodia & Laos missions...
4. They aided, funded, trained and supplied weapons to Afghanistan's radical Muslims...
5. They assisted in the transfer of thousands of radical Muslims into the EU to assist Bosnia...
6. Their accomplishments in the South & Central America drug trade are well known...
Currently the US Embassy in Chang Mai is on high alert, due to the US involvement with drugs and terrorism...
WOW, talk about miseducation, propaganda, and selective history.
The Bay of Pigs was a disaster.
From 1957-1973 the CIA attempted about one coup per year in Laos to stop DEMOCRATIC elections. It was more of a Cold war battle since the Soviet Union supported the Pathet Lao. The CIA created an army of mercenaries called the Armee Clandestine. What both the Soviet Union and American governments and intelligence communities did was kill numerous civilians and create civil war for their own benefit.
In Cambodia they overthrew Prince Sahounek, who happened to be quite popular in Cambodia for refusing to enter the Vietnam conflict. The CIA replaced him with their puppet Lon Nol who immediately entered Cambodia into the war. This strengthened the Khmer Rouge, since the move was unpopular amongst the Cambodian people, which led to the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror.
Afghanistan was another Cold War battle they fought, not to assist the Afghani's, but to cripple the Soviet Union. Operation Cyclone managed to train and fund the mujahadeen "freedom fighters", who we now call "terrorists", with over $ONE BILLION$ of American taxpayer dollars. When money was requested to help rebuild Afghanistan, only a few million, it was denied numerous times. All the returning refugees returned to a destroyed country which led to a land ripe for religious muslim fundamentalists. So essentially the CIA was a MAJOR contributor in the creation of Al Qaeda and the Haqqanni Network.
Their accomplishments in destroying NUMEROUS democracies in South and Central American and replacing those democracies with dictators/military junta's isn't well known, but it is the truth. Countries like Guatemala in 1954, Ecuador in 1961 and again in 1963, Brazil in 1964, Uruguay in 1969, Bolivia in 1971, Chile in 1973, El Salvador in 1979, Nicaragua in the early 80's, Honduras in 1983, and let's not forget Noriega from the 60's into the 80's. He was their guy until they lost control of him. All these events led to lands prime for drug activity which the CIA not only was aware of, but they assisted and benefitted from them.
The CIA also created the current government in Iran. They overthrew the DEMOCRATICALLY elected Mohammed Mossadegh and replaced him with their puppet the Shah, because the UK was angry that Mossadegh wanted to take control of Iranian oil back from Britain. The 20+ year reign of the puppet Shah is what led to the Iranian Revolution of '79.
And let's not forget Operation Paperclip where they assisted and put to work some of the worst Nazi intelligence officers, scientists, and spies. Putting them to work in Italy, Russia, and Korea. In Southern Italy they assisted in putting the fascist leaders removed during WW2 back into power.
"If you don't know history, it's as if you were born yesterday." - Howard Zinn
There are indeed Europol (formerly Interpol) arrest warrants out for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfiwitz, and around 14 or so others (the three just convicted in Italy among them.) We do not extradite these people because the USA does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice over individuals, even those charged withg war crimes, unless the individual is from a country we don't like.
Obama goes and murders inocent women and children with his drone strikes, and we here nothing from these same courts.
Gee, we should anyone take them seriously
Publius - Are you a moron? How many did Bush kill in Iraq and Afghanistan? We are talking at least a half a million. Since Iraq had not done anything to warrant being attacked, it was a massive war crime.
Bush and Cheney should stand trial and be hung by their scrawny necks, along with the neocons who fabricated the false evidence against Iraq. Paul Wolfowitz, the acknowleged architect of the Iraq war, should hang along side them.
Wow, the CIA makes the FBI look competent. I've never felt safer!
I hope the irony isn't lost on Mr. Pollari in his inability to defend himself against secret evidence.
We need to do the same in this country.
Funny how Bush is a criminal for treating terrorists poorly (i.e. water boarding), yet the same people praise Obama for allowing the use of drones in killing suspected terrorists that are U.S. Citizens. You have to love the tolerable left.
You probably meant "tolerant". None the less the drone program is outrageous. It's one thing to target combatants and quite another to perform government sanctioned assassinations in sovereign territory.
There is no justification for Torture.
But killing people with no jurisprudence is perfectly ok,
A long as your Obama
Unlike your example of killing suspected combatants where the US has no jurisdiction, torturing prisoners in US custody is against domestic and international law as well as a war crime.
The ASSASSINATION of Political Leaders is against US Laws...
The use of 'armed drones' outside of a declaired conflict zone, is ILLEGAL around the World...
The UN is currently investigating the high numbers of INNOCENTs being killed by the expanded use of Obama's drones...
Predator Drone Strikes: 50 Civilians Are Killed For Every 1 Terrorist, and the CIA Only Wants to Up Drone Warfare...
Currently there are TWO cases that will place charges against US Citizens/CIA. Investigation by Pakistan Police into the roles of two US officials said to have ordered drone strikes. They are Jonathan Banks, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Islamabad station, and John A. Rizzo, the CIA’s former chief lawyer. If the judge grants the petition, an international arrest warrant will be issued via Interpol against the two Americans.
No political leaders have been assassinated by drones that I'm aware of.
Nonsense. The US has the cooperation of the legitimate recognized government in every country where it's been using drones to kill people. To do otherwise would be an act of war.
I'm not trying to justify the drone program (which I think is very unwise and counterproductive), just pointing out that it's legally pretty much the same as using an F-16 to kill someone on the ground.
skrekk,
Pakistan has repeatedly expressed opposition to the drone program, and about 10 months ago closed the CIA's only drone base in the country...
Pakistan also has considered challenging the legality of the program at the United Nations...
Conducting drone strikes in a country against its will could be seen as an act of war...
Last year's war brought drones to Libya in force, both for surveillance missions and to attack Gadhafi loyalists. Between April 21 and October 21, 2011. BTY - They are still there, CNN is reporting that drone flights will assist in spotting the perpetrators of the 9-11 lethal attack on U.S. diplomatic personnel in Benghazi....
An RQ-170 was brought down and recovered on Iranian soil...
For more drone info:
Revealed: US and Britain launched 1,200 drone strikes in recent wars
December 4th, 2012 | by Chris Woods and Alice K Ross see article -thebureauinvestigates.com/2012/12/04/revealed-us-and-britain-launched-1200-drone-strikes-in-recent-wars/
But like you stated, The US only operates these in countries that have AUTHORIZED their use... Ha! Ha!
Pakistan expresses opposition "publicly" because the drone program is very unpopular with the public, but then privately tells the US to continue the drone program since the people we're killing are also a threat to Pakistan's government. There would be no drones in Pakistan if the government didn't allow it, and everyone knows that.
True.
True, and the US had UNSC permission to do so.
True, but that was a recon drone only and likely entered Iran's airspace from Pakistan when it became disabled. However, it's very likely the US illegally violates Iran's airspace all the time.
We need to keep in mind that you only hear about the failures, almost never the
success.
While I always try and respect someone’s point of view on things, I believe that many
people in today's society just read a story and believe it to be fact based on
their feelings or what motivates them financially. There are normally a whole
lot of other factors that play into these kinds of things that never make it
out to the public. Some of these factors are very important to keep a secret.
The public at large thinks it is entitled to know all the facts, yet truth be told are not even close to being
ready to know how the real world works at large behind the scenes.
It really is not a happy, happy – let’s all get along type world out there folks.
And for those who think that way of thinking is wrong, go serve in the military and find out firsthand
how there are those who want power and control at any cost overseas and willing to harm us in the process.
If we cast aside what political party we each choose to side with (fyi – they are
ALL a mess), there are in fact some good, honest people trying to do what is
right for the moral good of this country. The biggest problem is the politics
and power to maintain control of votes is what will be our demise…
that's a self fulfilling prophecy. the people of the world are only not ready to see how the world works cause they have been hidden from it for so long. if you show them within a short time they'll be used to it, otherwise the ones who actually know now wouldn't be able to handle it either cause at some point they too were ignorant. no one is born knowing about it.
You don't kidnap and interrogate Muslim terrorists. You just blow them up or shoot them and let the media claim it was the Israelis.
It usually works the other way around. The terrorists are Israelis and the blame goes towards Muslims.
These CIA terrorists should have gotten LIFE in prison for this disgusting act of cowardice and treason. We need patriotic US citizens to go after these thugs and bring them to justice, get them to Italy and hope that the Italian court has a tough, law-and-order, no-nonsense judge.
Renditions also happened in the U.S. but are covered up..... Want the name?
Notice the CIA isn't doing this crap in the US, where the law wouldn't allow it. I hope the entire world turns its back on the CIA, and nails any official who helped them kidnap and torture people.
Why isn't the international court laying war crimes charges?
Won't allow it? Have you been keeping up with the news over the last few weeks?
Do the "human rights" groups, otherwise known as democrats, make a distinction between "extraordinary rendition" under Bush, and being blown to smithereens by an Obama operated drone? Doesn't seem like I have heard much from the "human rights" groups now that we know the All Benevolent Ruler Obama is going to fly drones over our country spying on the comrades and wants to kill U.S. citizens with them around the world. Oh, and then there's that troubling U.S. military live training going on unannounced in the streets of our major cities. What do the "human rights" people think about that? We haven't heard anything from them.
No explanation in the article about why the guy was picked up----typical by the lie-beral media.
100 to 1 he was a Nazi with terrorist ties.
Libs - Cutting off heads is OK?
Bush Lied Bush Lied Bush Lied.
How many times do the rightwing nut have to be reminded of this FACT, before they come off their "we are all in on this" position. The boy Lied over and over and over, to decieve you and me and the entire World.
Bush Cheney Rumsfeld & Rice need to answer to the Courts.
If we stand for Torture, what does that say about our Morals?
Boy, if there was ever a more appropriate oxymoron than "Italy's former military intelligence chief" I have never seen it.
Guy looks like a terrorist to me...
These so called, Human Rights groups, who's side are they on, what are they on? Human Rights backing Terrorism isn't being Human Rights advocates, it's being Terrorist supporters. Terrorist Broadcast Be-headings, Killings, Torture Mental and Bodily, and Proud of such. But you've got to protect these people. You guys not getting enough 'air-time', or other? They're laughing at us and know how Weak this Nation has become with such. Then Italy supporting such? Who, or what is Italy supporting or they stand for? God what a world we've created, allowed to be created. Don't even think about Hurting an Animal! Animal Activist Groups will be hunting you down. But HUMAN Rights Activist protecting Terrorist? You guys want to Protect Human Rights or Violations, go to the Congo, or better yet downtown Chicago, Detroit, do I need to go on.
Try to disengage the "terrorist" label from what actually happened (in Italy). A foreign nation (USA) kidnapped someone who was there legally. And were aided by the locals. He was illegally removed from the country and sent somewhere else to be ????
Would you be OK if the CIA helped... say.... Mexican or Japanese "agents" kick in your neighbor's door and ship him off to Syria or Honduras to be ???? If you are, then you have no concept of what the rule of law or the constitution mean.
Slapping a "terrorist" label on on someone easily gives anyone a pass from folks who'll happily hand over their hard-earned freedoms. The terrorists are laughing at you alright - because they don't have to take your rights away, you're happy to just give them up willingly.
Italy deserves credit for following the rule of law in their country.
I would have no problem at all if that person, friend or not, broke the law in mine and/or other countries with proof while having further intentions of helping others to hurt or kill anyone in any country. The World is becoming smaller and smaller everyday. Not an excuse but beware of what we think is right or wrong. Freedom doesn't come cheap but everyday people want to let more and more of it GO and don't realize what they're doing or advocating. I do understand the Constitution of the United States. Or what used to be the United States.