A court in Milan convicted 23 United States-government operatives and several Italian intelligence agents on Wednesday for unlawfully kidnapping a Muslim imam and sending him to Egypt for interrogation and torture.   

The former Central Intelligence Agency bureau chief in Milan, Robert Lady, was sentenced to eight years in prison. An Air Force colonel and 22 CIA agents were each sentenced to five years for their roles in the 2003 operation. The government agents were also ordered to pay the Imam and his wife over $2 million in damages. All of them were tried in absentia and are considered fugitives.

“I am not guilty. I am only responsible for following an order I received from my superiors," the Italian newspaper Il Giornale quoted Lady as saying. He was quoted in the same publication back in June as well, saying: “Of course it was an illegal operation. But that’s our job.” Of course, the Nuremberg principles do not accept following orders as an excuse for the commission of crimes. 

Accused of attempting to recruit Islamic fighters for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Egyptian cleric, known as Abu Omar, was stuffed into a van in broad daylight while residing in Milan. He was then flown to Egypt via a U.S. air base in Germany. Held without charges or access to a lawyer for four years, Omar claims he was tortured and electrocuted while in custody, "hung up like a slaughtered sheep" and even subjected genital abuse. He was eventually released without charges.

"This decision sends a clear message to all governments that even in the fight against terrorism you can't forsake the basic rights of our democracies," noted the lead Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro, who said he is considering making a request for an international arrest warrant to apprehend the agents. “Our democracies, otherwise, would betray their principles." Spataro claimed the government has repeatedly tried to silence him, even using the intelligence agencies to monitor his communications and investigate whether “state secrets” were revealed in the case.

Two Italian agents were also convicted. They were sentenced to three years each. Five other Italians, including the chief of the intelligence service, were acquitted. Evidence relating to their roles had been classified as “state secrets” by the Italian government and was therefore inadmissible in court. Several CIA agents were saved from prosecution due to claims of diplomatic immunity.   

Despite the agents’ use of false identities and Italian government claims of “state secrets,” the case was pieced together by prosecutors in a five-year investigation using cell phone records, official testimony and other evidence. According to a former CIA official cited by the New York Times, the potential international arrest warrant would make the convicted agents subject to arrest any time they left America. So far it is unclear whether the U.S. government would consider extraditing them, but European courts are also reportedly looking into the case.

Countless Human rights watch-dogs immediately hailed the ruling. "This is clearly a historic verdict," declared Judith Sunderland for Human Rights Watch. "It is a real testament to the tenacity of the Milan prosecutors' office that this case went forward." The organization called the abduction tactics "illegal, unacceptable and unjustified."

"The decision in Italy underscores the need for the United States to hold its own officials accountable for crimes committed under the 'extraordinary rendition' program," explained Steven Watt, a senior attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union who has also challenged the CIA program in court. "It is shameful that the first convictions of this kind came from a foreign justice system, where those convicted are not likely to serve their time."

Amnesty International blasted the American government while praising the Italian court. "The United States shouldn't need a foreign court to distinguish right from wrong," it said. "The Obama administration must repudiate the unlawful practice of extraordinary rendition — and hold accountable those responsible for having put the system in place — or his administration will end up as tarnished as his predecessor's."

An organization seeking the prosecution of former president George W. Bush, former vice-president Dick Cheney and former secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld also celebrated the verdict and called for more prosecutions. “This is a crucial step on the road to justice,” said the group Indict Bush Now in a release e-mailed to supporters. “But it must go to those at the top, to the architects of these criminal acts.”

The CIA and the Italian government have refused to comment so far, though an Italian state spokesperson denied Italy’s involvement. The U.S. State Department said it was “disappointed” with the verdict and that it may appeal. The court-appointed lawyer for the agents called the trial “political” and also suggested an appeal was in the works. The Pentagon expressed regret about the ruling and still maintains that a NATO treaty should have shielded the Air Force colonel from prosecution in Italy.  

But despite this harsh condemnation, the Obama administration has continued the Bush policies of “extraordinary rendition” and “harsh interrogation,” even threatening to enshrine indefinite detention without charges as official government modus operandi. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a prosecutor in August to investigate CIA torture and crimes, but so far precious little has come from the move.

Meanwhile, other more serious accused criminals still remain at large, including the officials who ordered, approved and orchestrated these extraordinary unconstitutional programs. It should be an embarrassment to all Americans that U.S. officials are being convicted of such heinous crimes in other countries, while evidence to prosecute them in U.S. courts abounds. If America is ever to recover her moral standing, justice must be served and the Constitution must be restored. Indictments and prosecutions should begin immediately (with juries, of course).   

Alex Newman is an American freelance writer and the president of Liberty Sentinel Media, Inc., a small media consulting firm. He is currently living in Sweden and has spent most of his life in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. He has a degree in foreign languages and speaks Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian and a little Swedish and Afrikaans. In addition, he earned a degree in journalism from the University of Florida, with emphasis on economics and international relations.

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Pat Henry said:

... Habeas Corpus: how precious when you are the imprisoned without charges. Lex Rex, law applying even to government officials: how quaint - until we are at war, and need principle above politics more than ever. It is nice to know that this generation is re-learning that following orders is no excuse. Why? Because we all must stand up for what is right under God, no matter what an authority says. They may be wrong. We need this lesson on our own soil. Our Founders had homes of the brave; it is why we have been the land of the free. Maybe we will also re-learn posse comitatus.

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November 05, 2009
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RP said:

	... "I am only responsible for following an order I received from my superiors..." Sounds not only like Nazi Germany, but a lot like the gun confiscation from law abiding citizens in New Orleans. Hopefully, more law enforcement people will become acquainted with Oath Keepers to prevent another New Orleans. It does appear that Mr. Lady was unfamiliar with such concepts.
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Justice22 said:

Justice This is as close to justice as we're going to get in this world. These people are guilty of crimes against humanity, yet they won't spend a single day in prison because of authority. Might is right in our world, so as long as we have agencies like the CIA who are fomenting a plot to destroy our liberties, it's OK. Whenever someone stands up to authority, they're asked to support their assertions with facts. But when authority says it's so, you better not ask for proof because there is none.

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DDW said:

There is nothing Not one single thing that could happen to any CIA agent/employee that would be bad enough. That is a loathsome, vile, despicable outfit that should be put out of business immediately and everyone associated with it tried for high treason. It should never have been allowed to be put into existence in the first place. It was evil in the beginning and it will never, ever be anything but evil. It is a blight and a smudge mark on these United States.

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