Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, (born circa 1963) is an Egyptian cleric who was living in asylum in Italy after his Islamic organization was declared illegal by the Egyptian government in the 1980s. On February 17, 2003 he was allegedly abducted by the CIA as he walked to his mosque in Milan for noon prayers, thus becoming an effective ghost detainee. His case has been qualified by Swiss senator Dick Marty as a "perfect example of extraordinary rendition".

1 Alleged to have been an informant
2 Rendered to Egypt
3 June 2005 Italian warrant against 22 CIA operatives
4 2006 arrests of Italian intelligence officers
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Alleged to have been an informant

Omar is reported to have served as an informant for the Albanian National Intelligence Service, ShIK and, indirectly, the CIA, in 1995.^[1]

[edit] Rendered to Egypt

Thirteen months later he placed several phone calls from Egypt to his family and friends. Nasr claimed that he had been taken by U.S. agents to a joint U.S.-Italian base and eventually flown to Egypt where he had been severely tortured by beating and electric shocks to the genitals. At the time of the calls he had been released on the orders of an Egyptian judge because of lack of evidence. Shortly after those calls were made he was apparently re-arrested and his whereabouts are no longer known.

[edit] June 2005 Italian warrant against 22 CIA operatives

In June 2005, Italian judge Guido Salvini issued a warrant for the arrest of 22 persons said to be agents or operatives of the CIA. In November 2005, prosecutors requested that Italy's Justice Ministry seek the extradition of the suspects from the United States. In December, European arrest warrants were issued for the 22 suspects. The warrants are enforceable in the 25 EU member countries. However, in April 2006 just after the Italian general election, outgoing Justice Minister Roberto Castelli told prosecutors that he had decided not to pass the request to the United States.

Court documents in the case indicate that the suspects were implicated, in part, by extensive cellphone records which allowed Milan police to reconstruct their movements for the nine days they were in the city. Because the agents had apparently not, at any time, removed the batteries from their cellphones, investigators were able to pinpoint their locations from moment to moment. The agents also made numerous phone calls to the US consulate in Milan, to northern Virginia (where the CIA headquarters are located) and to friends and family in the United States.

Questions have also been raised about the agents' travel arrangements, which included stays in luxury resorts following the kidnapping. The hotel bills alone were said to total more than $150,000. One agent made a point of using her frequent flyer card in her real name.

The operation was allegedly led by Robert Seldon Lady, whom prosecutors identify as the former CIA chief in Milan. Lady is now retired and believed to be living in Florida.In December 2005, the Chicago Tribune reported that CIA Director Porter Goss had ordered a sweeping review of the agency's field operations.

At the time of his disappearance, Italian police were investigating allegations that Omar had tried to recruit jihadists. Salvini said the abduction was illegal because it violated Italian sovereignty. He also claimed that it disrupted an ongoing police investigation. The Italian police had been working in close cooperation with US law enforcement, and at least one of the suspects was among their American counterparts. The judge has also issued a warrant for the arrest of Nasr.

Because the case has been referred to both Europol and Interpol, police forces around the world are required to assist with the investigation.

According to court documents, Nasr was taken to the Italian-U.S. air base at Aviano and flown by Lear jet to Ramstein , Germany. A second plane then took him to Egypt.

Egypt has refused Italian requests for information on the whereabouts and status of Omar.

According to ANSA, Nasr's lawyer Montasser el-Zayat said "He's OK, despite insufficient food, and there are no signs of torture."^[2] el-Zayat also said Nasr has Italian citizenship and was being held in the Nora prison twenty miles south of Cairo.

[edit] 2006 arrests of Italian intelligence officers

In July 2006 two high-ranking Italian intelligence officers were arrested by Italian police for their alleged complicity in Abu Omar's kidnapping. These included Marco Mancini, the director of a division of SISMI, Italy's military intelligence agency, and Gustavo Pignero, the agency's chief for the northern region of Italy. A judge also issued arrest warrants for four Americans (three CIA agents and one employee of the local U.S. air base.[1]