Twenty three former CIA agents have been sentenced to prison terms in absentia on charges of abducting a Muslim cleric in Italy.

The verdict by a court in Milan is being described as a “symbolic” ruling against so-called rendition flights used by the former US government. The US refused to extradite the agents. Egyptian-born cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr was snatched off a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Egypt for interrogation. He says he was tortured and held until 2007 without charge. The US was widely criticised over the rendition flights, where suspects were flown to a country where interrogation techniques are tougher. 22 of the agents were given five-year jail terms, another received eight years.More about: CIA, Italy, USA

Copyright © 2012 euronews