One of Italy's most senior intelligence officers was in jail yesterday, accused of helping the CIA seize a radical Muslim cleric and terrorist suspect who later said he was flown out of Italy and tortured.
His arrest was welcomed by some parliamentarians as supplying the first official confirmation of European complicity in the United States's controversial policy of so-called "extraordinary renditions".
Mauro Mancini, deputy head of Italy's military intelligence service, Sismi, was detained at the behest of a judge in Milan. The judge agreed that another official, who was head of the agency's operations in northern Italy during the alleged CIA operation, be put under house arrest.
The prosecutor's office said he had also obtained arrest warrants for 26 Americans said to have taken part in the alleged kidnapping, four more than previously known. The suspects were not named, but three were said to be CIA agents while a fourth worked at the US-Italian airbase at Aviano, near Venice.
Mr Mancini was detained as the European Parliament prepared to vote today on a report accusing the CIA of operating more than 1,000 secret flights over EU territory to transport suspects to third countries, many of which employ torture. The report's author, Italian MEP Claudio Fava, suggested some EU governments knew about the flights.
The case stems from the disappearance in 2003 of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar. Eyewitnesses testified that he had been stopped on a Milan street and bundled into a van. In a subsequent call to Italy, monitored by police, he said he had been flown to Egypt, jailed, tortured and then released. His current whereabouts are unknown.
The prosecutor, Armando Spataro, issued a request for the extradition of the Americans he believes were involved, but Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government refused to pass it on to the US. Mr Spataro says he will resubmit his petition to Italy's new centre-left administration.
The case has the potential to embarrass Mr Berlusconi, who vigorously denied any government involvement in the affair.
His denial was backed by Sismi's director, Nicolo Pollari, in evidence to an Italian parliamentary committee and the European Parliament. But, in May, the official version came under strain when a Carabinieri warrant officer was placed on the list of suspects. According to media reports, he had admitted stopping Abu Omar and demanding to see his papers, seconds before the cleric was seized.
Jas Gawronski, an MEP from Mr Berlusconi's party, said: "Osama bin Laden is happy. In my country today, instead of arresting terrorists we're arresting those who are hunting terrorists." Mr Fava said Mr Mancini's arrest was "the latest, sad confirmation of Italy's heavy involvement in Abu Omar's kidnapping". - (Guardian service)