An Italian judge has found the 23 Americans guilty of extraordinary rendition when they kidnapped an Egyptian Muslim cleric from a Milan street in 2003.

The cleric, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, was then said to have been flown via the Ramstein base in Germany to Egypt, where he was allegedly detained for years, during which he was tortured, and then released without charges.

Twenty-two of the former CIA agents were given sentences of up to five years, while the other convicted American, the CIA's Milan station chief at the time, Robert Seldon Lady, was sentenced to eight years.

Citing diplomatic immunity, the judge dropped cases against three other American defendants, as well as the former head of Italy's Sismi military intelligence agency, Nicolo Pollari, and his deputy at the time.

The convictions are the first made over the CIA's so-called extraordinary rendition program, which is said to involve the illegal apprehension and international transfer of CIA targets suspected of terrorist links.

The rulings were made in absentia after the US refused to extradite the accused former agents, bringing to an end a near three-year legal battle.

dfm/AFP/AP/Reuters
Editor: Nancy Isenson