Italian Judge Convicts Americans In Rendition Case

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MICHELE NORRIS, host:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

A group of CIA agents have been convicted in an Italian criminal court. The 23 Americans and two Italian agents are charged with taking part in the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition. It all goes back to the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in broad daylight in Milan. It's the first time CIA agents have been put on trial for rendition.

NORRIS: NPR's Sylvia Poggioli has been following the trial and she joins me now from Milan. Sylvia, the Egyptian cleric, Abu Omar, says he was snatched from the streets of Milan, taken to Egypt, where he says he was tortured repeatedly. In making their case, what did prosecutors say about the Americans role in this?

SYLVIA POGGIOLI: Well, the prosecution said that 26 Americans, all but one identified as CIA agents, together with seven members of the Italian military intelligence agency, carried out the kidnapping. Abu Omar says men who looked and sounded American blindfolded him and took him by plane to Cairo where he says he was tortured in prison. The prosecution presented this as a case of extraordinary rendition, what many human rights activists say is the CIA's outsourcing of torture of prisoners to countries where it's practiced.

Now the prosecution showed that the operation was very sloppy. The CIA suspects were tracked down thanks to cell phone calls made from near the abduction site and hotel credit card payments, as well as tickets for speeding. And the prosecutor said that the agent's carelessness was a sign they believe they could operate with impunity.

NORRIS: The prosecution, in trying to pursue this case, says it was obstructed by the Italian government. What happened?

POGGIOLI: Well, the case encountered really serious obstruction from successive Italian governments, both on the left and the right. Worried about the harm the trial could pose to the U.S.-Italian relations, these governments raised the issue of state secrecy. And last March, the constitutional court ruled that a portion of the prosecution's evidence could not be used because it's classified.

Today, the judge cited state secrecy as the reason why two top Italian defendants were cleared. He also cited diplomatic immunity for the acquittal of three of the American defendants, including the former CIA station chief in Rome Jeff Castelli. But 22 Americans were convicted and given five-year prison sentences. The stiffest sentence, eight years, was given to the former CIA station chief in Milan, Robert Seldon Lady.

NORRIS: The U.S. government is refusing to cooperate with this trial. In fact, today, American officials expressed disappointment with the verdict, and we should explain the Americans were not in court and it sounds like it's unlikely that they'll fulfill their prison sentences.

POGGIOLI: That's very true. The chief prosecutor, Armando Spataro, said he's considering the possibility of asking the Italian government to issue international arrest warrants. That would mean at least that the convicted Americans would not be able to travel outside of the United States.

NORRIS: With these convictions, is this all over now or will there be any further action in this case?

POGGIOLI: Well, this is what we'll have to wait and see. Again, it's up to Spataro to decide whether to seek these international warrants. And he also may appeal the acquittals of the Italian defendants based on classified evidence. But, you know, I think, basically the convictions are being seen here as indictment of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies. Spataro and his Europeans colleagues and anti-terrorism investigators here have always severely criticized practices such as extraordinary renditions as illegal and counterproductive in combating terrorism. Spataro and his colleagues say that in a continent with large Muslim minority communities, illegal practices such as extraordinary renditions end up promoting extremism and undermining faith in the democratic system.

NORRIS: Sylvia, thank you very much.

POGGIOLI: Thank you, Michele.

NORRIS: That was NPR's Sylvia Poggioli speaking to us from Milan.

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