Italy Seeks Arrest of 6 More CIA Agents in Cleric Kidnapping

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Italy Seeks Arrest of 6 More CIA Agents in Cleric Kidnapping
July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Italian prosecutors today sought arrest warrants for six more people they say are U.S. Central Intelligence Agency operatives who helped kidnap an Egyptian Muslim preacher from a Milan street more than two years ago.

Prosecutor Armando Spataro asked a three-judge appeals panel to reconsider a decision last month that left the six out of an arrest warrant issued for 13 other U.S. citizens said to be CIA agents, according to court documents for the appeal.

The suspected CIA agents allegedly kidnapped Egyptian citizen Nasr Osama Moustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, in Feb. 2003. Hassan was then flown to Egypt from a U.S. air base at Aviano, Italy after stopping at a U.S. base at Ramstein, Germany, according the Milan prosecutor's office.

The kidnapping was ``totally illegal'' and ``not only seriously violated Italian sovereignty, but also hurt the effectiveness of the fight against terrorism,'' the prosecutor Spataro wrote in the appeal documents.

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