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15 November 2009
On 4 November an Italian judge convicted 23 CIA agents and
two Italian agents for their role in the 2003 kidnapping
of a Muslim cleric. Milan judge Oscar Magi sentenced former
Milan CIA station chief Bob Seldon Lady to 8 years in
prison, and 22 other agents to 5 years for their role in the
abduction of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar. Italian Air Force
Colonel Joseph Romano , who was responsible for the CIA
kidnapping team’s flight to Egypt from a U.S. air base in
Italy was also convicted.
The Wall Street Journal of Nov 5th called the decision "a
landmark ruling on the controversial [illegal] U.S. practice
of abducting [kidnapping] suspected terrorists and flying them
to other countries for interrogation [torture]".
To our shame, the Irish government has aided and abetted
these CIA agents as they went (and possibly still go) about
their business of torture. The plane that they used to bring
Abu Omar to be tortured was refuelled at Shannon on its return
flight. Sadly the Irish police, most likely under orders from
senior authorities, have repeatedly and steadfastly refused to
investigate this grave violation of national and international
law.
Abu Omar was abducted in Milan on 17 February
2003 by the CIA agents. He was taken to the joint US/Italian
airbase at Aviano, Italy, and then flown to the US airbase at
Ramstein, Germany. From there he was flown on a CIA-leased
plane to Egypt where he was tortured. On 18th February 2003
the airplane with registration number NV85VM landed in Shannon
airport at 5.52am directly from Egypt where it had deposited
Abu Omar. It refuelled before leaving for the USA. (See
Amnesty International's report "Breaking the Chain: Ending
Ireland's Role in Renditions" (pages 16/17), available at http://www.amnesty.ie/amnesty/upload/images/amnesty_ie/...n.pdf).
As
the Irish authorities insist on helping these CIA torturers,
there seems to be little point in contacting the local or
national police here should they be on board - or even step
off - another plane at Shannon. Repeated requests asking the
Gardai there to search known rendition planes have failed. So
if anyone does see them on Irish soil, or suspects that they
may be on it, it is important to insist that an Garda Siochana
do their duty and uphold the law. But because they will most
likely fail to do their duty, it will also be necessary to
contact Interpol, the international police agency. This
can be done by going to http://www.interpol.int/Public/mail/mail3.asp?id=fug
or by faxing +33 4 72 44 71 63 (Swiss number).
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