Ex-CIA Milan chief writes to Italy president seeking pardon
A former CIA station chief in Italy has written to the country's president, pleading to be pardoned and absolved for his role in the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric under the United States' controversial "extraordinary rendition" policy. ● Robert Seldon Lady said in the letter that the US and Italian governments knew full well about the abduction of the Egyptian terror suspect and that his life had been ruined after being sentenced in absentia to prison for his role in the operation. Lady was CIA station chief in Milan when the cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was snatched from a street in the northern Italian city and flown to Egypt. The imam claimed that during seven months of interrogation, he was tortured by the Egyptians. Lady was among 23 Americans sentenced in absentia at a trial in Italy in 2009, but escaped jail because he had already fled the country. He received the heaviest sentence – nine years. The letter to Giorgio Napolitano, Italy's president, is remarkably candid and heartfelt for a former spy, and was obtained by the Corriere della Sera newspaper.
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