Abu Omar says he was tortured.

Egyptian cleric Osama Nasr, better known as Abu Omar, disappeared off a Milan street in 2003 when he was abducted by CIA agents and sent to prison in Egypt. Nasr, who had been given political asylum in Italy prior to his abduction according to Stephen Grey, author of the book Ghost Plane (see review, page 27), was released from an Egyptian prison on February 11 after being held for four years without charge.

Shortly after his release, Nasr made a surprise visit to the trial of dissident blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, who was sentenced to four years in prison, according to the Australian paper The Age, for "insulting Islam and President Hosni Mubarak." At the trial, Abu Omar said he had been tortured after being abducted as part of the CIA "extraordinary rendition" program. Days later he defied a ban on his speaking to the media and told Al-Jazeera that he had been tortured by Americans. According to the Boston Herald, "Nasr told the pan-Arab satellite TV station ... that he 'was savagely tortured by the CIA when kidnapped and during my deportation' to Egypt."

Earlier, in an 11-page letter smuggled out of prison, Nasr described how he was tortured by Egyptian guards. The letter is part of the evidence being considered as part of legal proceedings in Italy against 25 CIA officers, one U.S. Air Force officer, and seven Italians who have been charged with organizing and kidnapping the cleric. On February 16, Italian judge Caterina Interlandi ruled the accused should stand trial. Arrest warrants have been issued for the Americans and are valid throughout Europe.