Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr
Religion	Islam
Other names	Abu Omar
Personal
Born	(1963-03-18) 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 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, as well as Nasr, himself.^[2]

Early life

He is a member of al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an Islamic organisation that was formerly dedicated to the overthrow of the Egyptian government; the group has committed to peaceful means following the coup that toppled Mohamed Morsi.^[3] 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.^[4] After the Egyptians declared the group illegal, Nasr sought asylum in Italy.

Abduction by the CIA

On 17 February 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.^[5]

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.^[6] He said he had been subjected to various depredations, tortured by beating and electric shocks to the genitals, raped, ^[7] and eventually had lost hearing in one ear.^[8] 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", and in Italy prompted a series of investigations and intrigues within the Italian intelligence community and criminal justice system collectively referred to as the Imam Rapito (or "kidnapped Imam") affair in the Italian press.

Convictions of CIA agents and others

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.^[9] Eight other American and Italian defendants were acquitted.^[9]

Former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, received an eight-year prison sentence. 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. Those convicted were also ordered to each pay 1 million Euros to Nasr and 500,000 Euros to Nasr's wife.^[10][11][12]

In 2010, leaked diplomatic documents revealed the efforts the United States used in an attempt to stop Italy from indicting the CIA agents, and that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi assured US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates that he was "working hard to resolve the situation" but that the Italy's judicial system was "dominated by leftists".^[13]

In July 2013, Robert Seldon Lady was initially detained in Panama at the request of Italian authorities, but then released and allowed to board a flight to the United States.^[14]

Release in February 2007

On 11 February 2007, Nasr's lawyer Montasser el-Zayat confirmed that his client had been released and was now back with his family.^[15] After four years of detention, an Egyptian court ruled that his imprisonment was "unfounded."^[16]

Conviction in Italy

In 2003, Nasr was convicted in absentia of terrorism by an Italian court for offenses before his abduction.^[2] Egypt had not responded to Italian requests to extradite or even interview Nasr for the trial.

See also

• Sabrina De Sousa
• Human rights in Egypt
• Imam rapito affair
• Khalid El-Masri
• Returnees from Albania
• Mark Zaid
• Montasser el-Zayat

Notes and references

External links

• A lot more information on Abu Omar and controversy in Italy
• Rendition Cindy Sheehan? CIA Fugitive From Italy Justice Is Located
• CIA Ruse Is Said to Have Damaged Probe in Milan: Italy Allegedly Misled on Cleric's Abduction, Washington Post, 6 December 2005
• A Cleric's Journey, Washington Post, 6 December 2005
• Ex-Aviano officer won't comment on alleged abduction, Stars and Stripes, 10 December 2006
• Italy indicts 31 linked to CIA rendition case, International Herald Tribune, 15 February 2007
• Amnesty International interview.

CIA secret prisons and detainees Suspected black sites Salt Pit Dark Prison Diego Garcia Temara interrogation centre Ain Aouda Stare Kiejkuty Szczytno-Szymany Mihail Kogălniceanu Camp Nama Camp Eggers Strawberry Fields (Guantanamo) Black Jail Held in the Salt Pit Khalid El-Masri Laid Saidi Gul Rahman1 Held in the dark prison Jamil el Banna Abd al-Salam Ali al-Hila Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi Hassan bin Attash Laid Saidi Binyam Mohamed Musab Omar Ali Al Mudwani Walid al Qadasi See also Enhanced interrogation techniques Extraordinary rendition Ghost detainees Waterboarding Destruction of interrogation tapes 1 Died in custody.