Italian Spy Chief Out; Investigated In Abduction

ROME, Nov. 20 -- An Italian spy chief lost his job Monday as government investigators continued to probe his role in the kidnapping of a Muslim cleric by the CIA more than three years ago.

Nicolo Pollari, director of the military intelligence agency known as Sismi, was removed from his position by the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi as part of a broader shake-up of the country's spy services.

Pollari is under scrutiny by Italian authorities investigating the Feb. 18, 2003, abduction of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, an Egyptian imam known as Abu Omar who was grabbed off the street in Milan as he was walking to a mosque for midday prayers.

According to Italian prosecutors, the CIA took Nasr to Cairo, where he was handed over to the Egyptian security services and subjected to electric shocks, water torture and other forms of abuse.

Prosecutors have issued arrest warrants for 25 CIA operatives and a U.S. Air Force officer in the case. A dozen Italian secret service agents and police officers, including Pollari, were served with papers last month notifying them that they are also targets of the investigation and are likely to be indicted in the coming weeks.

Pollari has denied culpability and has said that Sismi was not involved in Nasr's disappearance. But at least two of his close aides have told prosecutors that Pollari was aware of the operation and that Sismi plotted closely with the CIA to abduct the cleric.

An Italian parliamentary committee is also investigating Pollari and has compiled a draft report concluding that he covered up the kidnapping and lied about his role, according to excerpts of the report published by Italian newspapers last week. The committee noted that Pollari suggested in closed-door testimony that Nasr had staged his own disappearance, even after an Italian police officer had confessed to helping Sismi and the CIA abduct him.

Nasr was a radical cleric who was granted political asylum in Italy after he fled Egypt in the mid-1990s. He soon attracted attention from Italian anti-terrorism police, however, who placed him under surveillance in 2002 on suspicion that he was recruiting fighters to go to Iraq.

Prosecutors in Milan said they had nearly gathered enough evidence to arrest Nasr when he mysteriously disappeared in 2003. They have accused the CIA and Sismi of interfering with their criminal investigation and damaging U.S.-Italian cooperation on counterterrorism programs.

Although Pollari was booted from Sismi, he will remain in the government as a special adviser to Prodi, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. Also losing their jobs Monday were Gen. Mario Mori, head of Italy's civilian intelligence agency, and Emilio Del Mese, a national intelligence coordinator.

Whitlock reported from Berlin.