Jul 18, 2013
In 2009, Lady was convicted along with 22 other Americans for the abduction of Egyptian imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar. At the time, the Americans were all tried in absentia after the United States refused to extradite them.
Omar--a resident of Italy at the time--was grabbed off the street in Milan in 2003 and secretly flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and held until 2007 without charge.
Last fall, an Italian appeals court upheld the conviction. Former Milan station chief Lady was sentenced to nine years in prison and the other 22 former CIA agents were sentenced to five years each.
"I worked in intelligence for 25 years and almost no activity I did in those 25 years was legal in the country where it happened," Lady toldGQ Magazine in 2007. "When you work in intelligence, you do things in the country in which you work that are not legal. It's a life of illegality."
Reporting on his capture, APwrites:
The [Italian] ministry said it didn't immediately have details on when or where in the Central American country Lady was detained. Asked if Italy was seeking Lady's extradition, the ministry said Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri was away on a visit in Lithuania and couldn't immediately say if such a request had been initiated.
The previous Italian government had said that extradition could only be sought for Lady, since it can only be requested for people who have been sentenced to more than four years in prison. A 2006 amnesty in Italy shaves three years off all sentences meted out by Italian courts, meaning if Lady is brought back to Italy, he would face six years in prison.
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Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
In 2009, Lady was convicted along with 22 other Americans for the abduction of Egyptian imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar. At the time, the Americans were all tried in absentia after the United States refused to extradite them.
Omar--a resident of Italy at the time--was grabbed off the street in Milan in 2003 and secretly flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and held until 2007 without charge.
Last fall, an Italian appeals court upheld the conviction. Former Milan station chief Lady was sentenced to nine years in prison and the other 22 former CIA agents were sentenced to five years each.
"I worked in intelligence for 25 years and almost no activity I did in those 25 years was legal in the country where it happened," Lady toldGQ Magazine in 2007. "When you work in intelligence, you do things in the country in which you work that are not legal. It's a life of illegality."
Reporting on his capture, APwrites:
The [Italian] ministry said it didn't immediately have details on when or where in the Central American country Lady was detained. Asked if Italy was seeking Lady's extradition, the ministry said Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri was away on a visit in Lithuania and couldn't immediately say if such a request had been initiated.
The previous Italian government had said that extradition could only be sought for Lady, since it can only be requested for people who have been sentenced to more than four years in prison. A 2006 amnesty in Italy shaves three years off all sentences meted out by Italian courts, meaning if Lady is brought back to Italy, he would face six years in prison.
_____________________
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
In 2009, Lady was convicted along with 22 other Americans for the abduction of Egyptian imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar. At the time, the Americans were all tried in absentia after the United States refused to extradite them.
Omar--a resident of Italy at the time--was grabbed off the street in Milan in 2003 and secretly flown to Egypt, where he says he was tortured and held until 2007 without charge.
Last fall, an Italian appeals court upheld the conviction. Former Milan station chief Lady was sentenced to nine years in prison and the other 22 former CIA agents were sentenced to five years each.
"I worked in intelligence for 25 years and almost no activity I did in those 25 years was legal in the country where it happened," Lady toldGQ Magazine in 2007. "When you work in intelligence, you do things in the country in which you work that are not legal. It's a life of illegality."
Reporting on his capture, APwrites:
The [Italian] ministry said it didn't immediately have details on when or where in the Central American country Lady was detained. Asked if Italy was seeking Lady's extradition, the ministry said Minister Anna Maria Cancellieri was away on a visit in Lithuania and couldn't immediately say if such a request had been initiated.
The previous Italian government had said that extradition could only be sought for Lady, since it can only be requested for people who have been sentenced to more than four years in prison. A 2006 amnesty in Italy shaves three years off all sentences meted out by Italian courts, meaning if Lady is brought back to Italy, he would face six years in prison.
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