CIA agents – criminals in Italy

An Italian court has found 23 Americans guilty of kidnapping an Egyptian terror suspect six years ago. Webster Tarpley, author, journalist, lecturer, and critic of US policy discussed the court case with RT.

This is the first conviction involving the CIA’s ‘extraordinary rendition’ programme, which saw suspects being tortured in foreign countries.

“This is a great victory for the rule of law and it’s a great day for these Italian prosecutors,” Tarpley said.

“There were 33 people on trial and 26 of them were CIA agents. Three of them, including the station chief in Rome, got off on diplomatic immunity. But 23 have been convicted of kidnapping,” he added.

Mark Zaid, an attorney for a convicted alleged CIA agent is, meanwhile, asserting that his client was not, in any way, affiliated with the agency.

“My client has been based there as a diplomatic representative of the US government since 1998, first in Rome, then in Milan,” Zaid explained.