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BBC NEWS | Europe | Italy PM called in rendition case

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi will be called as a witness in a trial over the alleged CIA kidnap of a terror suspect.

Twenty-six Americans and six Italians are accused of kidnapping a Muslim cleric from Italy and sending him to Egypt, where he claims he was tortured.

A judge in Milan ruled that Mr Berlusconi, who faces no charges in the trial, could be called to testify.

Former spy chief Nicolo Pollari says testimony from ex-heads of government may prove he was against the practice.

Mr Berlusconi is considered a key witness as he was prime minister when prosecutors allege that Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was snatched from a street in Milan, in February 2003.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Wed May 14th, 2008 at 11:23:24 PM EST
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CIA kidnapping trial resumes in Italy - International Herald Tribune

MILAN, Italy: The wife of an Egyptian cleric taken from a Milan street, allegedly as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, wept Wednesday as she described her husband's alleged torture in an Egyptian jail.

Heavily veiled and speaking through a translator, Ghali Nabila testified in the trial of 26 Americans and several Italians charged in Italy with kidnapping in the disappearance of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr in February 2003.

"They put him on a cross, they beat him on the ears and all over his body," she told the court, citing a letter from her husband and conversations with him.

"They positioned him on a chair, tied up his hands and his feet," she said before breaking into tears. "And they gave him electrical shock all over his body, even his genitals."

Nabila, 39, said the torture continued over 14 months.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Wed May 14th, 2008 at 11:23:47 PM EST
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