CIA agents jailed over cleric kidnap

A judge in Italy has sentenced 23 American CIA agents and two Italian secret agents to jail over the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric in 2003.

The CIA's Milan station chief at the time, Robert Seldon Lady, was sentenced to eight years in prison and the other Americans to five years, all in their absence in the landmark trial.

The two Italians were given three-year prison terms.

The court found the cleric known as Abu Omar was kidnapped from a street in Milan and sent to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured.

Judge Oscar Magi presided over the trial, which lasted almost three years, and is the first involving America's Central Intelligence Agency's program of abducting terrorism suspects and transferring them to third countries for interrogation.

Three Americans were acquitted in the case.

The judge explained that five Italian defendants were allowed to walk free because Italy withheld evidence, claiming that it was classified information.

ABC NEWS Australia

Um, pedantic I know, but an 'active' employee of the CIA is an 'officer'. An agent is someone who supplies the CIA (or any other intelligence organisation) with information.

I think that the CIA (as well as their British Counterparts in the SIS) have lost the defining line between being good guys and being bad guys.

Interesting.
I took the whole thing word for word.
I guess it says a lot about our ABC.

They were also tried "in absentia" or not present. The article is technically correct, but it's unlikely any of the CIA people will see the inside of a jail.
I doubt the United States would extradite those people -- it would set a bad precedent if the government ordered someone to do something illegal as a matter of policy and then tossed them into the fire.
It's mostly symbolic, unless any of them set foot in a country with an extradition treaty with Italy, or Italy itself, and maybe not even then.

I bet someone will sue and win a judgement against the Canadian Government. Right Mr Ariar.

Symbolic or not it shines a huge spotlight......