Italian Intelligence Officials Arrested Over Rendition

A major flap in Italy over the rendition of a Muslim extremist, in which earlier a judge had issued criminal warrants for American CIA officers, has resulted in the arrests of several officials of the Italian intelligence service and new charges against Americans.

Police arrested two officials from Italy's military intelligence agency on Wednesday and a judge issued arrest warrants for four Americans over the alleged CIA kidnapping of a terrorism suspect in 2003, officials said.

Three of the Americans were alleged CIA agents and the fourth worked at the U.S. military air base in Aviano, northern Italy, a statement from the Milan prosecutor's office said.

It said Marco Mancini, director of a division of the Sismi military intelligence agency, and another Sismi official, had been arrested.

The new arrests and the warrants relate to the abduction of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. He says he was seized on a Milan street in broad daylight, bundled into a van and driven to Aviano.

He says he was then flown to Egypt and tortured under questioning.
An Italian court has already issued arrest warrants for 22 suspected U.S. agents over the abduction.

But it was the first time Italian officials have been linked to the investigation.

If an Italian role is confirmed, it would lend evidence to allegations that European countries colluded with the United States in the secret "renditions" of terrorism suspects.

Lawmakers in Italy's new centre-left ruling coalition accused former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of a cover-up during his five-year administration, which ended in April.

Berlusconi has fiercely denied that his administration or Sismi were involved in the kidnapping -- and even once summoned the U.S. ambassador to request Italian sovereignty be respected.