An Italian court sentenced 22 CIA operatives, including former Milan station chief Robert Lady, and one U.S. Air Force colonel in absentia for the 2003 abduction of Muslim cleric Hassan Moustafa Osama Nasr (or Abu Omar) in Milan. Nasr was flown to Egypt, where he claims he was tortured. Why would Italy, a U.S. ally, threaten to jail CIA agents for nabbing a suspected terrorist?
Italy is laying down the law: Why did the CIA use “extraordinary rendition” in an allied nation like Italy? asks Annie Lowrey in Foreign Policy. The “somewhat queasy” answer is: because it could. “At the time, the CIA operated in extralegal channels with impunity.” But times have changed, and the Italian court is “ensuring the CIA knows there’s no impunity now.”
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