Prosecutor: Italy kidnapping too grave to cover up (CIA extraodinary renditions trial)

[maddezmom]

Source: AP

MILAN — The kidnapping of a terror suspect is too grave a crime to be covered up just to protect government secrets, a prosecutor declared Wednesday in the trial of 26 Americans and seven Italians charged in the abduction of an Egyptian cleric.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro gave his closing arguments in a trial that is the first in any country to scrutinize the CIA's extraordinary renditions. Under that program, the U.S. spy agency transferred terrorism suspects to third countries for interrogation.

Human rights advocates say that renditions were the CIA's way to outsource the torture of prisoners to countries where torture was practiced.

Italian prosecutors say Egyptian cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, a suspected terrorist also known as Abu Omar, was kidnapped from a Milan street in broad daylight on Feb. 17, 2003. Nasr was then allegedly driven from Milan to the Aviano air base in Italy, flown to the Ramstein air base in southern Germany and then to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iM_YyWi9inE9T_InTSAg1w3qlraAD9B1M4983

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

"government secrets" (in this case & others) = evidence of government sanctioned war crimes

"to protect government secrets" = to protect evidence of government sanctioned war crimes

[mmonk]

2. Thanks.