Wife tells of Egypt cleric's alleged CIA-linked torture

MILAN, Italy — The wife of an Egyptian cleric taken from a Milan street, allegedly as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, wept Wednesday as she described her husband's alleged torture in an Egyptian jail.

Heavily veiled and speaking through a translator, Ghali Nabila testified in the trial of 26 Americans charged in Italy with kidnapping in the disappearance of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr in February 2003.

"They put him on a cross. They beat him on the ears and all over his body," she told the court, citing a letter from her husband and conversations with him.

"They positioned him on a chair, tied up his hands and his feet," she said before breaking into tears. "And they gave him electrical shock all over his body, even his genitals."

Nabila, 39, said the torture continued over 14 months.

On trial are 26 Americans — all but one believed to be CIA agents — and several Italians charged with kidnapping a terror suspect.

Italian prosecutors say Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was abducted as part of the CIA's program of extraordinary rendition, in which terror suspects are moved from country to country without public legal proceedings.

The trial, conducted by local authorities in defiance of national government wishes, is the first involving the program. The government claims the case was improperly based on classified evidence.

The CIA has declined to comment on the case.

At the time of his disappearance, Nasr was also under investigation in Italy for suspicion of involvement in international terrorism.

Italian prosecutors say the cleric was transferred to U.S. bases in Italy and Germany before being moved to Egypt, where he was held for four years. Nasr, who was released last year, says he was tortured.

All but one American suspect in the case have been identified by prosecutors as CIA agents. They are being tried in absentia.