Italian prosecutors seek extradition of CIA agents

Prosecutors have requested Italy seek the extradition of 22 suspected CIA agents over the kidnapping of a terrorism suspect, grabbed off a street in 2003 and taken abroad, a judicial source in Italy said on Friday.

The request was delivered to Justice Minister Roberto Castelli.

The minister just returned from Washington, where he discussed the issue with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, a U.S. justice department official in Washington D.C. said.

Castelli's office declined comment. He must now decide whether to make a formal request to the United States to pursue the case, said the Italian source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The general prosecutor's office has requested the extradition," the well-placed source said.

Prosecutors in the northern city of Milan believe that the CIA was behind the disappearance of Egyptian-born imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.

They say he was grabbed off a Milan street and flown from a U.S. air base in northern Italy to Egypt, where they suspect he may have been tortured under interrogation by Egyptian security officials.

A Milan judge has issued an arrest order for Nasr, who is believed to be still in Egyptian custody.

Among the suspects is the former head of the CIA operation in Milan, who the Italian prosecutors investigating the case believe organized the abduction, the source said.

The investigation has drawn wide media coverage in Italy and the United States.

The Italian government has denied any role in the episode. Last July, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi summoned the U.S. ambassador to Rome and told him that Italian sovereignty had to be respected.

The United States has faced questions from other European countries, including Germany, over its transfers of militant suspects abroad.

Egypt's prime minister said in May the United States had transferred as many as 70 militant suspects to his country.

Intelligence officials believe that Nasr fought in Afghanistan before arriving in Italy in 1997 and obtaining political refugee status. Investigators accuse him of ties to al Qaeda and recruiting combatants for Iraq.