ROME: An Italian appeals court on Wednesday increased the sentences against 23 Americans convicted in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terror suspect involved in the CIA’s extraordinary renditions program.
In upholding the convictions, the court added one year to the eight-year term handed down to former Milan CIA station chief Robert Seldon Lady and two years onto the five-year terms given to 22 other Americans convicted along with him on appeal in what one of the defense lawyers described as a "shocking blow" for the US.
They were also ordered to pay €1.5 million ($2 million) in damages to the imam and his wife for the 2003 abduction.
They were never in Italian custody and were tried and convicted in absentia. But they risk arrest if they travel to Europe as long as the convictions stand.
The Americans and two Italians were convicted last year of involvement in the kidnapping of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003 — the first convictions anywhere in the world against people involved in the CIA’s practice of abducting terror suspects and transferring them to third countries where torture was permitted.
The cleric was transferred to US military bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where he says he was tortured. He has since been released.
Amnesty International praised Wednesday’s decision as a step toward demanding greater accountability in Europe for the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program.
"Abu Omar was snatched off a Milan street and spirited away without any due process at all," Julia Hall, an Amnesty counter-terrorism expert said in a statement. "The Italian courts have acknowledged that the chain of events leading to such serious abuses cannot go unanswered."
The reason for the stiffer sentences won’t be known until the judges issue their written ruling in March. But Guido Meroni, a defense lawyer for six of the 23 agents, said he believed the sentences had been increased because the court had rejected the mitigating circumstances that had led to the original judgement.
"The judges had originally ruled they had just been following orders, but it seems the court of appeals didn’t agree," he told AFP.
"I am surprised. I didn’t think the sentences would be increased. Of course we will take it to the supreme court," he added.
In their original sentence, the judges noted that the Americans had just been following orders.
Prosecutors countered in the appeal that kidnapping can never be considered part of ordinary diplomatic or consular work.
Defense attorney Arianna Barbazza, who represents Lady and 12 other Americans, said she would appeal to Italy’s high court.
During the original trial, three Americans were acquitted: the then-Rome CIA station chief Jeffrey Castelli and two other diplomats formerly assigned to the Rome Embassy. Prosecutors appealed the acquittal, as they can in Italy.
But their appeal will start later after the court on Wednesday agreed there had been errors in how the Americans had been notified, said defense attorney Matilde Sansalone.
The court also acquitted the then head of Italian military intelligence, Nicolo Pollari, and his assistant Marco Mancini, because producing evidence against them would have violated state secrecy rules.
In an earlier hearing on Wednesday, the court ordered a re-trial for three other CIA officers, including the then CIA chief for Italy Jeffrey Castelli, because of irregularities in the appeal procedures.
In the first trial they had benefited from diplomatic immunity and had been acquitted.
Their lawyer, Alessia Sorgato, said the court had taken a hard line against the other agents.
"It’s a shocking blow for the Americans," she said.
Amnesty International welcomed the judgement, but said that Italy’s role in the affair should also be examined.
"The Italian government and its officials should not be able to use ‘state secrecy’ as a shield to cover up human rights abuse," said Amnesty’s counter-terrorism specialist Julia Hall.
"The government must engage in a full and fair accountability process even if its official are embarrassed or even vulnerable to criminal charges for their actions," she added.
"Kidnapping is a crime, not a ‘state secret’."
