| Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Islam |
| Other name(s) | Abu Omar |
| Personal | |
| Born | 18 March 1963 Egypt |
| Religious career | |
| Post | Imam |
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (Arabic: حسن مصطفى أسامة نصر Ḥassan Muṣṭafā Usāmah Naṣr) (born 18 March 1963), also known as Abu Omar, is an Egyptian cleric. In 2003 he was living in Milan, Italy, from where he was kidnapped and allegedly later tortured in Egypt.[1] This "Imam rapito affair" prompted a series of investigations in Italy, culminating in the criminal convictions (in absentia) of 22 CIA operatives, a U.S. Air Force colonel, and two Italian accomplices.
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He is a member of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an Islamic organisation dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government. The group has been linked to the murder of Anwar Sadat in 1981 and a terrorist campaign in the 1990s that culminated in the November 1997 Luxor massacre. As a result it is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union. After the Egyptians declared the group illegal, Nasr sought asylum in Italy.
On February 17, 2003, Nasr was abducted by CIA agents[1] as he walked to his mosque in Milan for noon prayers, thus becoming an effective ghost detainee. He was later transported to a prison in Egypt where, he states, he was tortured.[2]
In April 2004, while his incarceration had been downgraded to house arrest, Nasr placed several phone calls from Egypt to his family and friends. He told them he had been rendered into the hands of Egypt's SSI at Tura prison, twenty miles south of Cairo.[3] He said he had been subjected to various depredations, tortured by beating and electric shocks to the genitals, raped, [4] and eventually had lost hearing in one ear.[5] At the time of the calls he had been released on the orders of an Egyptian judge because of lack of evidence. Shortly after those calls were made he was re-arrested and placed back in prison.
Nasr's case has been qualified by Swiss senator Dick Marty as a "perfect example of extraordinary rendition". On 4 November 2009, an Italian judge convicted in absentia 22 CIA agents, a U.S. Air Force (USAF) colonel and two Italian secret agents of the kidnap.[6] Eight other American and Italian defendants were acquitted.[6] USAF Lieutenant Colonel Joseph L. Romano, at the time of the conviction commander of the 37th Training Group of the 37th Training Wing, and 21 of the American defendants received five-year prison sentences. Former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, received an eight year prison sentence. The convicts were also ordered to each pay 1 million Euros to Nasr and 500,000 Euros to Nasr's wife.[7] These convictions have been viewed in the media as being largely symbolic as none of these individuals are currently in Italian custody, and the Italian government has declined to seek their extradition.[1]
The abduction prompted a series of investigations and intrigues within the Italian intelligence community and criminal justice system; in the Italian press, these are collectively referred to as the Imam Rapito (or "kidnapped Imam") affair.
On February 11, 2007, Nasr's lawyer Montasser el-Zayat confirmed that his client had been released and was now back with his family.[8] After four years of detention, an Egyptian court ruled that his imprisonment was "unfounded."[9]
He still could face arrest as a suspected terrorist and associate of terrorists if he returns to Italy. However, Nasr's lawyer has said that Nasr intends to return to Italy.
In 2010, diplomatic documents were leaked outlining pressure the United States used in an attempt to stop Italy from indicting the CIA agents who kidnapped Nasr. According to the documents, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi assured US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that he was "working hard to resolve the situation." Berlusconi also criticized Italy's judicial system as being "dominated by leftists".[10]
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