A TOP director and two other members of the Italian secret service have been arrested for their possible role in the 2003 abduction, allegedly by the CIA, of a Muslim cleric in Milan. Those arrested include Marco Mancini, number two in the military intelligence service Sismi, and two others, TV channel Sky TG24 reported.Milan magistrate Armando Sparato has been investigating the clandestine arrest and removal to Egypt of Egyptian-born imam Osama Mustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Amar. Italian prosecutors issued arrest warrants in November against 22 CIA agents alleged to have taken part in the operation.
The investigation indicates that Amar, who had political refugee status in Italy, was abducted on February 17, 2003 by Central Intelligence Agency operatives and taken to the US air base at Aviano in northern Italy for interrogation. He was then flown to Cairo via the US base at Ramstein in Germany, according to the investigation, and is now in an Egyptian jail, where Italian investigators have been unable to question him.