From the ArcaMax Publishing, Religion & Spirituality Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/religionandspirituality/s-348172-208158
The judge in the trial of Italian officials and CIA agents charged
with a 2003 kidnapping has ruled that two prime ministers can be
called as witnesses.
Judge Oscar Magi granted a motion by lawyers for former Italian
espionage chief Niccolo Pollari, the Italian news agency ANSA reported
Wednesday. The lawyers want to call Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi,
his predecessor, Romano Prodi, and their two foreign ministers,
arguing they will testify that Pollari was not involved with the CIA
kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Omar Nasr.
Nasr, a Muslim cleric, was kidnapped in Milan in 2003 and flown first
to Ramstein, Germany, and then to Egypt. He was freed in Egypt last
year.
Nine Italian intelligence officials and 26 CIA agents are on trial,
the CIA agents in absentia. The trial began in June 2007 and has
proceeded at a glacial pace with long breaks.
The trial is believed to be the first judicial test of the U.S. policy
of "extraordinary rendition," sending suspected terrorists to third
countries where security forces are not barred from using torture.