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Former Italian Military Intelligence Chief to Appear in CIA Kidnap
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Hearing
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=16001D3:A6F02AD83191E160E0B690F01FC2A1969574F7DCC14957C0 Nicolo Pollari
indicted for allegedly helping American CIA agents abduct suspect,
Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr in 2003 Italy's former military
intelligence chief is due to appear in a Milan court Monday, for a
preliminary hearing in connection with the kidnapping four years ago
of an Egyptian terror suspect.







Nicolo Pollari (file photo)Italian prosecutors are seeking to indict
Nicolo Pollari for allegedly helping American CIA agents abduct Osama
Moustafa Hassan Nasr (also known as Abu Omar) from a Milan street in
February 2003. They say Nasr was then flown to Egypt, where he says he
was tortured.

Pollari has denied any prior knowledge of the CIA's controversial
practice of transferring suspects to a third country, known as
"extraordinary rendition."

Five other Italian security officers accused of aiding in the
kidnapping, and 26 Americans, also are facing possible charges. All
but one of the Americans are thought to be CIA agents.

The government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi is considering a request
from prosecutors for extradition warrants against the Americans.

Nasr is believed to have been kidnapped under the CIA's "extraordinary
rendition" program, in which terror suspects are captured and taken
for questioning to a third country, including those with lower
standards regarding the treatment of prisoners.

Detainees in Egypt have frequently alleged they were tortured.



International human rights groups have expressed concern about the
possible torture of rendition detainees. President Bush has denied the
allegation, and he has defended extraordinary rendition as legal under
international law.

Last week, the Canadian government officially apologized to a
Syrian-born citizen detained by the United States and deported to
Syria after he was wrongly identified as a suspected terrorist. The
man, Mahar Arar, says he was imprisoned and tortured for a year before
being freed. Canada has since cleared him of all links to terrorism.



Some information for this report was provided by AP .




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