Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr

Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr , also known as Abu Omar , is an Egyptian born cleric who was living in asylum in Italy after his Islamic organization was declared illegal by the Egyptian government in the 1980s. On February 17 , 2003 he was abducted as he walked to his mosque in Milan for noon prayers. Thirteen months later he placed several phone calls from Egypt to his family and friends. Nasr claimed that he had been taken by U.S. agents and flown to Egypt where he had been severely tortured. At the time of the calls he had been released on the orders of an Egyptian judge because of lack of evidence. Shortly after those calls were made he was apparently re-arrested and his whereabouts are no longer known. In June 2005, Italian judge Guido Salvini issued a warrant for the arrest of 13 persons said to be agents or operatives of the CIA . At least six and possibly as many as 12 others are under investigation. Court documents in the case indicate that the suspects were implicated, in part, by extensive cell phone records which allowed Milan police to reconstruct their movements for the nine days they were in the city. The hotel bills alone were said to total more than $150,000. At the time of his disappearance, Italian police were investigating allegations that Omar had tried to recruit jihadists. Salvini said the abduction was illegal because it violated Italian sovereignty. He also complained that it disrupted an ongoing police investigation. The Italian police had been working in close cooperation with US law enforcement, and at least one of the suspects was among their American counterparts. The judge has also issued a warrant for the arrest of Nasr. Because the case has been referred to both Europol and Interpol , police forces around the world are required to assist with the investigation. According to court documents, Nasr was taken to the Italian-U.S. air base at Aviano and flown by Lear jet to Ramstein , Germany . A second plane then took him to Egypt. Egypt has refused Italian requests for information on the whereabouts and status of Omar. A week before the Italian warrants were announced, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice was in Egypt lecturing the government on human rights and justice issues.¹