An Italian court today convicted 23 U.S Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in a kidnapping case that was brought upon the CIA station station chief and 22 CIA field operatives who had been accused of kidnapping an Italian Muslim cleric and then exercising coercive interrogation tactics on the individual. The landmark judgment has come at a time when the CIA’s role into the war on terror has been in question by the international community and by the U.S Congress as well.

The cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr a.k.a Abu Omar, was abducted from the streets of Milan, in broad daylight on February 17th, 2003, then flown to a U.S air base in Germany and then on to another U.S air base in Egypt, where according to Mr. Nasr, he was interrogated and tortured. Many experts and human rights activists have expressed their happiness and commended the Italian justice system for taking a stand against its long standing ally, the United States of America.

All 23 CIA officers were tried in absentia and have been designated as international fugitives, awaiting persecution. The former Milan station chief, Robert Seldon Lady has been sentenced to eight years in prison and the other 22 CIA officers have been given a five year sentence. The Italian public prosecutor has stated that, he might move the courts to issue an international warrant against the 22 CIA agents on the run. If such a warrant is in fact issued, the role of Interpol will be very closely observed.

Apart from the 23 CIA officers, the Italian court has also convicted three other high ranking U.S officials, including the former Rome CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli, but all three officials were granted diplomatic immunity, as per international laws. However, the three Italian intelligence officers who were also tried in this one of a kind case, were not convicted and left off the hook, as the presiding Judge cited state secrecy as the reason for the diplomatic immunity. One of the tried Italians is a the former head of Italian military intelligence.

Via Associated Press.