Via the Daily News Egypt:
Swiss authorities have frozen an investigation into CIA operatives suspected of illegally transporting an abducted Egyptian Muslim preacher through Swiss airspace, an official said Friday.
“The case was suspended in November 2007,” said Jeannette Balmer, a spokeswoman for the Swiss federal prosecutor’s office.
Switzerland joined Italy, the country from which the preacher was allegedly abducted, and Germany in raising the threat of prosecution of CIA operatives when it authorized the start of criminal proceedings in February.
The neutral country, which has cooperated closely with the United States in investigations and attempts to shut down terrorists’ funding networks, has generally avoided open disputes with the US government.
But the seven-member Cabinet said last year that it could not tolerate the use of Swiss airspace for an abduction, citing evidence that basic norms of international law were violated.
The investigation concerned the alleged kidnapping of Osama Hassan Mustafa Nasr, known as Abu Omar, from a street in Milan. The CIA allegedly flew Nasr from Aviano air base in Italy across Switzerland to Ramstein air base, Germany, and then on to Cairo, Egypt, on Feb. 17, 2003.
Nasr, who was allegedly tortured during his imprisonment in Egypt, was ordered released last year by an Egyptian State Security Court that ruled his detention for four years in Egypt was unfounded.
Balmer said Swiss prosecutors “will not provide any further information on this case until the circumstances allow to do so.” She declined to comment further.
