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Italian court ups sentences for 23 CIA agents :      Information Clearing House: ICH

Italian court ups sentences for 23 CIA agents : Information Clearing House: ICHDecember 15, 2010 "AFP" -- ROME — An Italian court on Wednesday upped the sentences for 23 CIA agents convicted in absentia of abducting an Egyptian imam in one of the biggest cases against the US "extraordinary rendition" programme.

The 23 CIA agents, originally sentenced in November 2009 to five to eight years in prison, had their sentences increased to seven to nine years on appeal in what one of the defence lawyers described as a "shocking blow" for the US.

They were also ordered to pay 1.5 million euros (2.0 million dollars) in damages to the imam and his wife for the 2003 abduction.



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