13 CIA agents to be arrested in Italy for abduction of imam

An Italian judge has ordered the arrests of 13 people in the purported CIA abduction in Milan of an imam who was sent to Egypt, the Milan prosecutor's office said Friday. The alleged kidnapping was believed part of U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.

The 13 are suspected of seizing Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, on the streets of Milan on Feb. 17, 2003, and sending him to Egypt where he was reportedly tortured, Milan prosecutor Manlio Claudio Minale said in a statement. The U.S. Embassy in Rome and the CIA in Washington declined to comment.

AIDAN LEWIS, Associated Press Writer