Abu Omar case
The Abu Omar case is about Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, an Egyptian cleric living in Milan who was abducted in 2003. On February 17, Nasr was grabbed on a Milan street by CIA and Italian SISMI agents, taken to Aviano Air Base, and then flown to Cairo, where he was imprisoned and allegedly tortured for four years.
The operation was part of the United States’ extraordinary rendition program in the war on terror. Italian authorities were conducting a surveillance investigation into Nasr at the time, and the abduction interrupted that work. Nasr was released by an Egyptian court in February 2007, which ruled his detention unfounded. He had been indicted in Italy for terrorism offenses in 2005.
Italy’s investigations revealed that the kidnapping was a joint CIA-SISMI operation. Prosecutors charged 26 American agents and nine Italians, including the Rome CIA station chief and the head of SISMI, Nicolò Pollari, with involvement. The case highlighted tensions between Italian and American intelligence over the operation.
In the following years, Italian authorities uncovered more details of the affair. Two top SISMI officers were arrested in 2006 for their complicity, and Pollari, the SISMI chief, stepped down in 2006 amid the scandal. The United States and Italy faced ongoing questions about accountability, secrecy, and sovereignty.
In 2009, a Milan court convicted 22 Americans and a U.S. Air Force colonel, along with two Italian accomplices, in absentia for the kidnapping. Several other suspects were acquitted due to diplomatic immunity or lack of evidence. The trial marked the first major criminal case linked to the CIA’s rendition program.
The case also reached the European Court of Human Rights, which in 2012 condemned Italy for human rights violations related to Nasr’s abduction and ordered damages to Nasr and his wife.
Over the next years, Italian courts issued further sentences. In 2013, the Milan Court of Appeals sentenced Pollari to ten years and Mancini to nine years (with other defendants receiving shorter terms) in absentia. The rulings were appealed, and in 2014 the Italian Supreme Court acquitted Pollari and Mancini, citing the use of secret evidence in the proceedings.
Nasr remained in Egypt and faced terrorism charges in absentia for actions before his abduction, though Egypt did not extradite him to Italy. The case also involved other implications, such as the involvement of journalists and concerns about press surveillance by Italian intelligence.
A related figure, Sabrina De Sousa, a former CIA agent convicted in Italy in connection with the abduction, faced extradition attempts and, after a series of legal developments in Portugal and Italy, received a partial pardon in 2017.
The Abu Omar case exposed tensions between Italy’s judiciary and government over how to handle intelligence operations and international cooperation in the fight against terrorism. It showed that a covert international operation could unfold within Italy, provoke long legal battles, and have lasting political and legal consequences for both Italy and the United States.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:34 (CET).