MADRID: The Italian judge probing alleged CIA abduction of a Muslim cleric in Milan met Thursday Spanish colleagues investigating prisoner transfers by the U.S. spy agency, court sources told AFP. Milan magistrate Armando Sparato, who is investigating the clandestine arrest and removal to Egypt of Abu Amar, an Egyptian-born iman, met Spanish investigators on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Thanks to investigations by the Spanish authorities, it seems that one of the aircraft used to illegally transport the Egyptian to Cairo made three landings in Palma de Mallorca in 2004, Sparato told journalists. The investigation in Milan indicates that Omar, who had political refugee status in Italy, was abducted on Feb. 17, 2003 by Central Intelligence Agency operatives and taken to the U.S. air base at Aviano in northern Italy for interrogation. He was then flown to Cairo via the U.S. base at Ramstein in Germany, according to the investigation, and is now in an Egyptian jail, where Italian investigators have been unable to question him. Italian prosecutors issued arrest warrants in November against 22 CIA agents alleged to have taken part in the operation. The Spanish magistrates, who have investigated 10 suspect stopovers at the Palma de Mallorca airport between January 2004 and January 2005, transmitted their findings March 22 main criminal court in Madrid, which handles all cases relating to terrorism. The Milan case has been an embarrassment for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has made an alliance with the United States a central plank in his foreign policy and in his campaign for reelection next month. The Italian magistrates have been praised by Dick Marty, the rapporteur of an investigation being carried out by the Council of Europe into reported secret CIA detention centers in Europe. Sparato also testified Feb, 23 before an investigating commission set up by the European Parliament. AFP
Italian, Spanish judges meet in CIA probe
