Italian Trial of C.I.A. Operatives Begins

Italian Trial of C.I.A. Operatives Begins With Torture Testimony
By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL
May 15, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/15/world/europe/15italy.html

MILAN — A long-delayed trial of C.I.A. operatives and former top
Italian intelligence officials moved forward here on Wednesday, as a
judge ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could be called to
testify about the abduction of a radical Muslim cleric here in 2003.
Luca Bruno/Associated Press

Ghali Nabila, the wife of a Muslim cleric abducted in Italy in 2003,
left a Milan court Wednesday after testifying in the case.

Testimony also began Wednesday. The cleric's wife, Ghali Nabila, said
her husband, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, was taken
from Italy and transferred to a prison in Egypt, where, she said, he
was repeatedly tortured. While acknowledging a program of
"extraordinary rendition," or abducting terrorism suspects outside the
United States, the Bush administration claims that no one is sent to
nations that torture.

"I found him wasted, skinny — so skinny — his hair had turned white,
he had a hearing aid," Ms. Nabila said, recounting her husband's
condition between prison stays in 2004.

Wearing a veil that revealed only her eyes, Ms. Nabila at first said
she "didn't want to talk about" any abuse against her husband in
prison. But advised by prosecutors that she had no choice, she told
the court in tears: "He was tied up like he was being crucified. He
was beat up, especially around his ears. He was subjected to
electroshocks to many body parts."

"To his genitals?" the prosecutors asked.

"Yes," she replied.

The Bush administration has not commented on whether it was
responsible for the disappearance of Mr. Nasr, who was abducted near
the Jenner Street mosque here in Milan in February 2003. He was
finally released in 2007. Last year, an Italian prosecutor brought
charges against 26 Americans — 25 Central Intelligence Agency
operatives and one Air Force colonel — in the first case involving the
contentious practice of extraordinary rendition.

None of the Americans are now in Italy, and the United States has said
it will not extradite them. But the case is still likely to reveal
many details about a program shrouded in secrecy.

And last month, the case took on greater significance here in Italy:
Mr. Berlusconi, who was prime minister at the time of Mr. Nasr's
disappearance, was re-elected; any revelations about his or his aides'
complicity could damage his new government.

Last year, Italy indicted the 26 Americans, citing a trail of
incriminating cellphone exchanges intercepted by Italian prosecutors
in the days before Mr. Nasr's abduction.

Far more vulnerable, though, are more than a half dozen high-level
officers of Italy's secret service who have also been indicted, all
accused of in some way approving, masterminding or carrying out the
kidnapping plan.

The Italian government has tried to block the prosecution or at least
to limit embarrassing revelations by claiming that some or much of the
evidence is classified or privileged information that could endanger
national security.

For example, the Italians said that overzealous prosecutors should not
have intercepted the C.I.A. operatives' phone calls. A constitutional
court is to on this issue on July 8, although it has failed to meet
previous deadlines.

But the Milan prosecutor, Armando Spataro, has vowed to press on,
noting that even if some documents are inadmissible, there are many
levels of proof.

"We have the maximum respect for the constitutional court, but we
don't think any decision it makes will stop this trial from going
forwards," he said Wednesday during a break.

One of the documents in question has been introduced by the defense
lawyers for Nicolò Pollari, former director of Sismi, Italy's military
intelligence agency, in an attempt to clear his name. It would
presumably show that he, at least, was unaware of the kidnapping plan,
or even actively opposed it.

Mr. Pollari's lawyers claim that Mr. Berlusconi and his predecessor,
Romano Prodi, have information that would clear Mr. Pollari's name. On
Wednesday, Judge Oscar Magi, presiding over the trial in a cramped,
airless courtroom here, ruled they would have to testify if called.

Many members of Italy's law enforcement agencies were furious about
the kidnapping. They say they could have arrested Mr. Nasr at any time
and had long had him under surveillance for potential connections with
terrorists. They say his clumsy and illegal kidnapping erased years of
police work that had put them on the verge of gaining valuable
information about Muslim groups in Italy.

On Wednesday, defense lawyers tried to counter Ms. Nabila's testimony,
portraying her as an unreliable witness. She and her husband now live
in Cairo with their 3-month-old child and are supported by Mr. Nasr's
family.

After Wednesday's session, Titta Madia, a defense lawyer for Mr.
Pollari, said that Ms. Nabila's form of heavily veiled dress indicated
an "unreliable witness" since it was "an expression of an extreme
Islam," moved by "a deep hatred of Americans and toward the Western
world."

For example, Ms. Nabila testified that after Mr. Nasr's 14 months in
the Toran prison in Cairo, he was repeatedly released by judges and
re-arrested by the police, before being finally released for good in
February 2007. She said that during the extended period of repeated
detentions, her husband had told her that his Egyptian interrogators
offered him American citizenship and payments of $1 million if he
would cooperate.

When asked a series of questions about a home computer that was
ultimately confiscated by the Italian police long after Mr. Nasr's
disappearance, she said he had no memory of the events.
Daniele Pinto contributed reporting.