Robert Seldon Lady, a former CIA Milan station chief who was convicted in Italy for kidnapping a Muslim priest in 2003, has been arrested in Panama.
Seldon Lady and 22 other U.S. government employees grabbed the priest, Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, off the streets of Milan in 2003 because they suspected he had Al Qaeda ties. The cleric, known as Abu Omar, was a resident of Italy when he was captured.
According to Reuters, Omar claims that they flew him to Egypt where he was interrogated and tortured for seven months with electric shocks, beatings, rape threats, and genital abuse.
In 2009 an Italian judge sentenced Seldon Lady and the 22 other CIA operatives in absentia for the kidnapping, meaning they were not present for the trial but would face up to nine years in prison if they returned to Italy.
Washington Post reports that Seldon Lady was arrested by border authorities in Panama Wednesday after attempting to enter the country. Officials do not know where he will be taken because Italy and Panama do not have an extradition treaty.