Prison requested for Americans in CIA rendition case

By GottaLaff

Hey, it doesn't hurt to ask:

Sep 30th, 2009 | MILAN -- An Italian prosecutor on Wednesday urged a court in Milan to give 26 Americans 10 to 13 years in prison each for the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in a CIA renditions operation. [...]

Spataro gave his closing arguments in a trial that is the first in any country to scrutinize the CIA's extraordinary renditions. Under that program, the U.S. spy agency transferred terrorism suspects to third countries for interrogation. [...]

The defense must still make its final arguments. A verdict is expected by the end of the year.

The Americans, all but one identified by prosecutors as CIA agents, are being tried in absentia and are considered fugitives by the Italian court. [...]

Prosecutors say Nasr was kidnapped from a Milan street in broad daylight on Feb. 17, 2003. He was then allegedly driven from Milan to the Aviano, flown to the Ramstein air base in southern Germany and then to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured.

I guess Italy's not afraid to look backward.

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Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is a military attorney who represents Fayiz Al-Kandari in the Military Commission process and in no way represents the opinions of his home state. When not on active duty, Colonel Wingard is a public defender in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

All my previous posts on this subject matter can be found here; That link includes one specific to only Fayiz al-Kandari's story here. Here are audio and video interviews with Lt. Col. Wingard, one by David Shuster, one by Ana Marie Cox, and more. My guest commentary at BuzzFlash is here.

If you are inclined to help rectify these injustices: Twitterers, use the hashtag #FreeFayiz. We have organized a team to get these stories out. If you are interested in helping Fayiz out, e-mail me at The Political Carnival, address in sidebar to the right; or tweet me at @GottaLaff.

If you'd like to see other ways you can take action, go here and scroll down to the end of the article.

Then read Jane Mayer's book The Dark Side. You'll have a much greater understanding of why I post endlessly about this, and why I'm all over the CIA deception issues, too.

More of Fayiz's story here, at Answers.com.

H/t: tosexyformy