A radical Muslim cleric plans to sue Italy for 10 million euros ($12.73 million) for allegedly helping the CIA kidnap him in Milan in 2003 and fly him to Egypt, his lawyer told Reuters on Thursday. Two Italian spy chiefs were arrested on Wednesday in connection with the alleged abduction of terrorism suspect Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.
Twenty-six Americans, most believed to be CIA agents, also face arrest warrants. Italian prosecutors say a CIA-led team grabbed Nasr off a Milan street in 2003, bundled him into a van and flew him to his native Egypt. Nasr says he was tortured there under questioning. He is being held in prison in Egypt without charges, his lawyer, Montasser el-Zayyat, said.
Nasr had political refugee status in Italy at the time of the alleged abduction. But he faces a pending arrest warrant in Italy on suspicion of recruiting militants for Iraq.