Italian Probe of CIA Abduction Broadens to Domestic Spying Scandal

We turn now to Italy where two high-ranking intelligence officers have been arrested on charges they helped CIA agents abduct a Muslim cleric off the streets of Milan three years ago.

Mauro Mancini, the deputy head of Italy's military intelligence service, has been jailed. His predecessor, Gustavo Pignero, is under house arrest. The arrests marked the first time Italian officials have been linked to the abduction of Hassan Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. Nasr was seized as he walked from his home to a local mosque. He was taken to a joint U.S.-Italian base and eventually flown to Egypt. There, Nasr says he was beaten and given electrical shocks on his genitals. He was never charged with a crime and has never appeared in a court of law. Meanwhile, Italian prosecutors say they've obtained new warrants for three CIA agents and one employee of the local US air base. The new warrants bring to twenty-six the number of Americans charged in the case since last year.

In a new development in the case, investigators are now widening their probe into whether Italian intelligence agents were engaged in illegal domestic spying. Police uncovered what appeared to be a massive secret archive of surveillance on journalists, judges and businesspeople in Italy. Police also found evidence to suggest that the intelligence agency - known as Sismi - had been recruiting some Italian journalists and illegally wiretapping others as a way of keeping track of the investigation into Nasr's abduction.

* Stephen Grey, British journalist who been closely following the story. He joins us on the line from London where he recently returned from Milan.

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