In a landmark case, twenty-three Americans, mostly CIA operatives, have been convicted in Italy for kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003. They were all tried in absentia after the United States refused to hand them over. The convictions turn them into international fugitives who risk arrest abroad. The case marks the first time any American has been convicted for taking part in a so-called “extraordinary rendition.” We go to Rome to speak with the Italian prosecutor who brought the case, Armando Spataro, and get comment from international law and human rights attorney Scott Horton. [includes rush transcript]http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/5/italian_prosecutor_in_case_against_cia
In a... more
"An Italian judge has convicted 23 Americans - all but one of them CIA agents - and two Italian secret agents of the 2003 kidnap of a Muslim cleric.
The agents were accused of abducting Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, from Milan and sending him to Egypt, where he was allegedly tortured.
The trial, which began in June 2007, is the first involving the CIA's so-called "extraordinary rendition" programme.
Three Americans and five Italians were acquitted by the court in Milan.
The Americans were all tried in their absence after the US refused to extradite them.
The CIA's Milan station chief at the time, Robert Lady, was given an eight-year term, while the other 22 Americans convicted were sentenced to five years in prison. One was not identified by prosecutors as a CIA agent."
Extraordinary rendition=kidnap and torture. Don't pretend that Obama hasn't continued this program.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8343123.stm
"An Italian judge has convicted 23... more
In a historical moment in which all the world governments are aware of the very serious danger of global warming and many countries including the United States and China begin massive investment into renewable energies, Italy seems one of the less eco-friendly countries in the world. Despite environmentalism has entered politics for over twenty years, in practice our nation has done little and now that would be time to act, is doing nothing. http://inaltreparole.net/en/nature/ecologyitaly311009.htmlIn a historical moment in which all the world governments are aware of the very... more
This is the shocking moment a Mafia hitman executes a man outside an Italian bar in broad daylight.
The assassin calmly walks up to his target and blasts him in the back of the head twice before walking away.
Prosecutors in the Mafia heartland of Naples have put CCTV of the Mafia murder online in order to get help in catching the killers.
Prosecutors in Naples, in southern Italy, said they had run out of leads in the investigation over the murder of Mariano Bacioterracino - also believed to be a Mafia clan member
The death of Stefano Cucchi, 31, killed in prison in Rome in a beating for which we don't know the culprits, and perhaps we'll never know, it is unfortunately just the latest in a long series. The best known are the stories of Marcello Lonzi, Aldo Bianzino, Niki April Gatti, Manuel Eliantonio. People arrested for crimes of minimal severity, no criminal record or with a small one, murdered or "suicided" in prison and nobody knows by whom, how, why. http://inaltreparole.net/en/news/morticarcere291009.htmlThe death of Stefano Cucchi, 31, killed in prison in Rome in a beating for which we... more
Among the silence of the press and taking advantage of the ignorance of most of the population Western governments are doing something that will one day be seen by our descendants in the same way we now see the slave trade. A shame without justification. Western governments imprison thousands of people who haven't committed any crime. Hundreds of others are left to die at sea and in deserts. http://inaltreparole.net/en/resistance/illegalimmigrants281009.htmlAmong the silence of the press and taking advantage of the ignorance of most of the... more
In a region with many problems, the first of which is its leadership, the demonstration of Amantea is a breath of fresh air. Thousands of people took to the streets yesterday to demand truth and justice on the "ships of poisons", laden with toxic and radioactive waste, sunk by mafia off the coast of Calabria. The scandal in fact is not only about a region of the South, though the usual italian hypocrisy encourages this thinking.In a region with many problems, the first of which is its leadership, the... more
(CNN) -- A Rwandan accused of "complicity" in the massacre of students at the college he headed during the country's genocide 15 years ago has been arrested in Italy, where he served as a clergyman, an international police agency said.
Officers from the Italian Carabinieri and Interpol's National Central Bureau in Rome, Italy, arrested Emmanuel Uwayezu -- who had been wanted in Rwanda, the international police organization Interpol said Wednesday in a news release.
Uwayezu, 47, is accused of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, complicity in genocide and crimes against humanity. He is in Italian custody and is awaiting extradition to Rwanda.
According to Interpol's statement, the Rwandan arrest warrant says Uwayezu was alleged "to have acted individually and as part of a conspiracy to plan and commit genocide by instigating Hutus to kill Tutsis in the area of Gikongoro, as director of the Groupe Scolaire Marie Merci college in Kibeho."
...More...(CNN) -- A Rwandan accused of "complicity" in the massacre of students at the college... more
If you try to explain to a foreigner what are the recommendations in Italy often he doesn't understand. Because in English the word means to mention someone, and it's completely normal. It's when a person is suggested for a job because someone deem him worthy and capable. In Italian the meaning of the word is just the opposite. It's when is mentioned for a job someone who is neither worthy nor capable, only well-connected.If you try to explain to a foreigner what are the recommendations in Italy often he... more
We must admit that Italian politics has made some real miracles. Berlusconi certainly didn't keep his historic promise to create one million jobs, now Italy just lost at least one million, but he did a miracle for sure. He manages to stay in power for years with the sole purpose of defending his private interests, doing absolutely nothing useful for the country. Even the Italian left has made its miracle.We must admit that Italian politics has made some real miracles. Berlusconi certainly... more
IN TIME, historians are sure to devote much time and space to the figure of media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi. But could it be that they will attribute to the Italian prime minister the merit of having, however inadvertently, sparked the renaissance of Italian feminism?
The prime minister would appear to have disturbed the slumbering dragon of Italian feminism which, for all that it was radical and outspoken in the Sixties and Seventies, has almost disappeared from the stage of public life in the last 20 years.
Rome daily La Repubblica reported yesterday that more than 98,000 women have signed an online petition deploring the 73-year-old Berlusconi’s “offensive”, male-chauvinist attitudes.
The incident that sparked the protest came, as so often in modern Italian politics, in the context of a TV current affairs programme. Speaking via telephone to RAI 1 talk show Porta A Porta on the evening two weeks ago that the constitutional court stripped him of his immunity from prosecution, the prime minister had an altercation with one of the studio guests, Rosy Bindi (58), the former health minister in Romano Prodi’s government.
“You are increasingly more beautiful than you are intelligent,” said Berlusconi in a remark Italians immediately understood to be both sarcastic and offensive.
A visibly offended Ms Bindi replied she was not “a woman at your disposal” in an obvious reference to allegations that Berlusconi last winter held orgies involving prostitutes in his private residences in Rome and Sardinia. Last April, Berlusconi’s wife Veronica Lario announced she was seeking a divorce, saying she did not want to live with a man who “consorts with minors”, a reference to the fact that her husband turned up at the 18th birthday party of Neapolitan Noemi Letizia, an aspiring actress/model who refers to Berlusconi as “Papi” (Daddykins)...
(Rest of article on link)IN TIME, historians are sure to devote much time and space to the figure of media... more
Economy Minister Tremonti has just unleashed a debate on all the Italian newspapers stating that a permanent job is better than a precarious one. It's such an obvious statement, as he admitted himself, but caused a sensation because in our country at least since 10 years almost all political forces have carefully refrained from defending permanent work. Widespread precarious jobs with fixed-terms and low wages contracts are the land of toys for Italian companies, who have no intention of giving them up.Economy Minister Tremonti has just unleashed a debate on all the Italian newspapers... more
Today was published the 2009 press freedom index by Reporters without Borders. And Italy has fallen from 44th to 49th place, the worst country in Western Europe and in conditions worse than many states of Eastern Europe, Africa and South America. The reason is obviously the control of a large part of the media by the Prime Minister in office and his continued attempts to intimidate and censor those he doesn't control.Today was published the 2009 press freedom index by Reporters without Borders. And... more
The cold arrived in l'Aquila, too: the temperature were 0 Celsius degree. The civil defence took away the camp tents, but houses (the one the Government have promised) are not ready, yet. And the protest now is on internet.The cold arrived in l'Aquila, too: the temperature were 0 Celsius degree. The civil... more
Today in Rome the greatest italian anti-racist demonstration up to now led 200,000 people to the streets, from Piazza della Repubblica to the stage in Piazza Bocca della Verità. A demonstration to say no to the Security decree that criminalizes immigrants, no to rejections of refugees, illegal under any rule of international law, not to the Centers for Identification and Expulsion where innocent people can be kept in jail for up to six months.Today in Rome the greatest italian anti-racist demonstration up to now led 200,000... more
Bulgaria should exert a particular fascination on our Prime Minister, because when he go there is always has some anti-democratic statement to issue. Maybe because in the past the nation was famous for being the most faithful to the Soviet line throughout the Warsaw Pact. And in fact he wants to govern just like Stalin, without opposition and surrounded by the cult of personality. After the bulgarian edict of 2002 to expel from italian television journalists Santoro and Biagi and comedian Luttazzi, now he has some exciting new "Bulgarian" ideas .Bulgaria should exert a particular fascination on our Prime Minister, because when he... more
The race is on to get Lewis and Heikki's cars to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza -at a maximum speed of just 56 mph - aboard the team's Mercedes Transporter, driven by Hugh and Roy.The race is on to get Lewis and Heikki's cars to the Italian Grand Prix in Monza -at a... more
Men are not born stupid, but there are many political and economic interests in the world which want them to be so. Often we think that ignorance is the reason why many people support obviously inadequate governments, but in reality is something much more serious than ignorance, is education to self-destruction. Imagine a thief who enters a house to rob and destroy. The noise alarm one of its inhabitants, who immediatly tries to stop the thief.Men are not born stupid, but there are many political and economic interests in the... more
The long making of the European Union should receive a fresh impetus after the approval of the Lisbon Treaty, drawn up to replace the European Constitution that was rejected in referendums in France and Holland. The Treaty provides for increased powers for the EU especially in foreign policy and a system of double majority decision which will come into force in 2014.The long making of the European Union should receive a fresh impetus after the... more
Italy is a laughable country, so ridiculous that people able to show how much Italy is laughable have to be silenced. Dario Fo is a Nobel laureate whose works should be studied in school until first grade school, but cannot even speak at the University of Milan. On public televisions he vanished decades ago, apart from rare appearances. Daniele Luttazzi, Beppe Grillo and Sabina Guzzanti are comedians, but the term for them is an understatement.Italy is a laughable country, so ridiculous that people able to show how much Italy is... more
