A court in Milan has ordered the arrest of a CIA team that kidnapped an Imam and flew him to Egypt, where he was tortured. The abduction came when both the American and Italian authorities were investigating his alleged links to terrorists, including recruiting for Iraq, but there is no indication the action was approved by Rome.

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr's current whereabouts are not known. The US embassy has refused to comment. From wiretap transcripts of two phone calls he made to family in Italy last year, when he was briefly released on medical grounds, he claims to have been subjected to physical violence to respond to questions.

The treatment has left him partially disabled, incontinent, and suffering from kidney and blood pressure problems. He was snatched from the street outside his mosque in 2003. One Italian judge calls the affair a "grave violation of Italian national sovereignty".

PHOTO CAPTION

The CIA symbol at the entrance to its headquarters in Langley, Virginia. (AFP)