An Egyptian Muslim preacher allegedly kidnapped by CIA agents off the streets of an Italian city and taken to Egypt has been released, his lawyer and a security official confirmed today.
Attorney Montasser al-Zayat said Osama Hassan Mustafa Nasr, known as Abu Omar, was freed yesterday by an Egyptian State Security Court that found his detention in Egypt "unfounded."
Al-Zayat said Nasr was released at a police station in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria. A security official, speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the court's ruling and Abu Omar's release.
Nasr was allegedly abducted from a Milan street in February 2003 by CIA agents with help from Italian agents, in a breach of Italian sovereignty.
Italian courts continued a preliminary hearing today to decide whether to indict 26 Americans and five Italian intelligence officials on criminal charges in Milan.
A trial would be the first criminal prosecution involving the CIA's extraordinary "rendition" program, in which terror suspects were secretly transferred for interrogation to third countries where critics say they may face torture.
Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro said Nasr's release would have little effect on the preliminary hearing, because in the Italian system the injured party cannot be called to testify at this stage.
According to Italian officials, the cleric fought in Afghanistan and Bosnia and was suspected of recruiting fighters for radical Islamic causes. But al-Zayat said Abu Omar had only traveled to Jordan, Yemen, Albania and Germany before entering Italy illegally in 1997.
No charges have ever been brought against Nasr. But a prosecutor in Milan, Guido Salvini, issued an arrest warrant for him in April 2005 as part of a terrorism investigation. Nasr was in Egyptian custody at that point, and the two countries do not have an extradition treaty.
Italian investigators said they believe Nasr's abduction was overseen by the CIA's station chief in Rome and orchestrated by officials assigned to the US Embassy there.
AP