Italian Newspaper: Another Report of CIA 'Torture'

By: An Egyptian cleric who disappeared from a Milan street in 2003 during an alleged CIA kidnapping said he was tortured with electric shocks, left in a cell where rats crawled on his body, and was threatened with rape when he was taken to Egypt, an Italian newspaper reported Thursday.

Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, gave an affidavit to Milan prosecutors who have been investigating the alleged abduction, according to Corriere della Sera. The Milan prosecutor's office confirmed it had received such a document.

Nasr, an Egyptian cleric and terrorist suspect who was living in Milan, was allegedly abducted in February 2003. Prosecutors say Nasr was flown via the joint U.S.-Italian Aviano air base to Germany and then to Egypt, where he says he was tortured.

Italy granted Nasr political asylum in 2001. He was also under investigation here for suspicion of international terrorism.

He is now held at a police station in Alexandria, Egypt.

The operation is believed to be part of an alleged CIA "extraordinary rendition" program in which terrorism suspects are transferred to third countries where some allegedly are subjected to torture.

Nasr said that when he arrived in Egypt, he was put in a tiny cell with no light. He said he was tortured "with electric shocks," punched, slapped and forced to walk on one foot with his hands tied, Corriere reported.

He was questioned about his life outside Egypt and shown pictures of fellow Egyptians and other North Africans living in Italy.

"The questioning lasted seven months, until Sept. 14, 2003, but it seemed like seven years," he wrote, according to the Milan-based daily.

Nasr said at that point he was transferred to another building, where he was kept for another half-year.

"When I asked for the bathroom, I was told it was my cell," Nasr reportedly wrote in the document. "The cell was airless, beetles and rats crawled on my body."

"The guards stripped me naked, threatened to rape me," said Nasr, who went on to describe what he said was other physical abuse and torture.

Italian prosecutors say the operation taking Nasr to Egypt was conducted by CIA agents with assistance from Italian agents. They are expected to seek indictments soon of 26 Americans and several Italian intelligence officials.

All but one of the Americans are believed to be CIA agents, including former station chiefs in Rome and Milan.