Rice testimony sought at Italy CIA trial

MILAN, Italy, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Italy's former spy chief, on trial for participating with the CIA in the abduction of a Muslim cleric, says he wants Condoleezza Rice to testify in the case.

Prosecutors say Niccolo Pollari, former head of the Italian military intelligence service SISMI, and eight other Italians participated in the 2003 "rendition" of Hassan Mustafa Omar Nasr. They say Pollari worked with U.S. agents to snatch Nasr off a Milan street and whisk him to a NATO base in Germany, and from there to Egypt for interrogation.

Pollari says he wants Rice, the current U.S. secretary of state and U.S. national security adviser in 2003, to testify for him as a defense witness, the Italian news agency ANSA reported Wednesday.

Nasr, who was suspected as terrorist, last year was released from an Egyptian jail where he says he was tortured and threatened with rape.

Italian Judge Oscar Magi is expected to rule on the request next month, ANSA said.