A torture investigation, which has embarrassed Washington and Rome for two years, may finally go to court. Prosecutors in Italy are asking a judge to order CIA agents and Italian spies to stand trial for kidnapping a terror suspect and then flying him to Egypt to be tortured. If the judge decides there is enough evidence for a trial it will be the first criminal case in the world over so-called “renditions”, one of the most controversial aspects of Bush’s war of terror.

The victim, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, is an Egyptian cleric who was living in asylum in Italy after his Islamic organization was declared illegal by the Egyptian government. On February 17th, 2003 he was snatched by CIA agents with help from Italy’s intelligence agency. Nasr was bundled into a van, flown out of Italy from a US airbase, and tortured by Egyptian agents.

A high-ranking SISMI suspect says the CIA wanted the agency to help it abduct the imam but that he declined. The US embassy in Rome did not comment.

Washington acknowledges secret transfers of terrorism suspects to third countries, but denies torturing suspects or handing them to countries that do.

But a draft report issued last week by the European parliament said Nasr had been “held incommunicado and tortured” after his suspected abduction by the CIA and SISMI.

26 Americans, most believed to be CIA agents, have been identified as suspects along with 6 Italians. Nasr claims he suffered electric shocks, beatings, rape threats, and genital abuse during his “questioning”. In an 11-page letter, he says he was offered freedom if he agreed to collaborate with authorities, but refused. A review of court documents and interviews give details about how the CIA spread disinformation to cover its tracks in Milan and damaged a major Italian investigation.

The American suspects already have European Union warrants out for their arrest. Washington is unlikely to hand them over so a trial may take place in absentia. One Italian suspect in the case has admitted to stopping Nasr and helping CIA agents kidnap him, yet says he was told the US and Italian governments sanctioned the operation. He also claims he was mislead further by the former CIA station chief in Milan who stated that the goal of the operation was to recruit Nasr, not to abduct him.

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