Robert Seldon Lady (born February 2, 1954 in

Tegucigalpa Tegucigalpa (, , ), formally Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District ( es, Tegucigalpa, Municipio del Distrito Central or ''Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.''), and colloquially referred to as ''Tegus'' or ''Teguz'', is the capital and largest city ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

; nicknamed "Mister Bob") is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

agent convicted of kidnapping in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

for his role in the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

's abduction of Egyptian cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in February 2003, while Lady was CIA station chief in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Lady was arrested in Panama on July 18, 2013. He had been a fugitive from Italian police after being convicted of kidnapping Nasr in February 2003, in what the Italian press are referring to as the '' Imam Rapito'' (or "kidnapped

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

") affair. He was released on July 19, 2013, and immediately boarded a flight direct to the United States.

Background

Lady grew up in

and became a New Orleans Police Department police officer in the 1970s.

The ''Imam Rapito'' affair

Italian authorities proved in court that in 2003, Lady helped a team of CIA agents kidnap Nasr (see

extraordinary rendition Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored Kidnapping, forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had t ...

) as he walked to his

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in Milan for noon prayers. Lady is said to have travelled to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

soon after the operation, where Nasr was interrogated and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. Some definitions are restricted to acts c ...

d. Lady initially claimed diplomatic immunity in an effort to avoid judicial proceedings against him in Italy, but in November 2005, an Italian judge rejected this request, stating that Lady had forfeited his immunity when he retired from the CIA, and also that the alleged abduction was in any case a crime serious enough to disqualify him from immunity. Lady, and his wife Martha, retired to northern Italy, near

Asti Asti ( , , ; pms, Ast ) is a ''comune'' of 74,348 inhabitants (1-1-2021) located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deemed t ...

, in September 2003. When the Italian police raided his home in June 2005, Lady was not there. The wall street journal reports he lives in Miami, FL

2007 indictment

In January 2007, an Italian court ordered Lady's home in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region of Northern Italy seized to cover court costs. On February 16, 2007, an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

was issued for Lady for the kidnapping of Abu Omar. An Italian prosecutor,

Armando Spataro Armando may refer to: * Armando (given name) * Armando (artist) (1929–2018), the name used by Dutch artist Herman Dirk van Dodeweerd * Armando (producer) Armando Gallop (sometimes written as Armando Gallup) (February 12, 1970 – December 17, ...

, was scheduled to begin trying the case in June 2007. Lady's Italian lawyer,

Daria Pesce ''Daria'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Glenn Eichler and Susie Lewis Lynn. The series ran from March 3, 1997, to January 21, 2002, on MTV. It focuses on the title character, Daria Morgendorffer, an intelligent, cynical high ...

, withdrew from the case shortly after the beginning of legal proceedings, saying her client refused to cooperate with the court proceedings because he believed the matter should be settled through a political, rather than legal solution. Lady dismissed his attorney soon afterwards, although the court in Milan appointed a public defense attorney for him. The trial against Lady and the other US defendants began '' in absentia'' later that month, although it was quickly adjourned until October 2007. In an interview with '' GQ Magazine'' in March 2007, Lady said of his superiors at the CIA that "the agency has told me to keep quiet and let this blow over."

2009 interview

In June 2009, Robert Seldon Lady was quoted by '' Il Giornale'' as saying of the kidnapping, He said of Abu Omar's abduction, "Of course it was an illegal operation. But that's our job. We're at war against terrorism."

2009 conviction

On November 4, 2009, Italian Judge Oscar Magi convicted Lady, along with 22 other accused CIA employees, of kidnapping, handing down an eight-year sentence. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' called this decision a "landmark ruling" and an "enormous symbolic victory" for Italian prosecutors because it "was the first ever to contest the United States practice of rendition, in which terrorism suspects are captured in one country and taken for questioning in another, presumably one more open to coercive interrogation techniques." On July 18, 2013, according to the Italian Justice Ministry, Lady was arrested in Panama. He was released the next day.

References

External links

*Robert Seldon Lady &

Extraordinary Rendition Extraordinary rendition is a euphemism for state-sponsored Kidnapping, forcible abduction in another jurisdiction and transfer to a third state. The phrase usually refers to a United States-led program used during the War on Terror, which had t ...

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

People & Power ''People & Power'' is a current affairs programme on Al Jazeera English which broadcasts once a week, on Wednesdays, and repeated throughout the week. The show is also shown on Al Jazeera America once a week on Thursdays. Each half-hour program ...

, presented by

Max Keiser Timothy Maxwell "Max" Keiser (born January 23, 1960) is an American broadcaster and film maker. He hosted ''Keiser Report'', a financial program broadcast on RT that featured heterodox economics theories. Until November 2012, Keiser anchored '' ...

at {{DEFAULTSORT:Lady, Robert Seldon 1954 births American kidnappers CIA agents convicted of crimes Extraordinary rendition program Fugitives wanted by Italy Fugitives wanted on kidnapping charges Living people People of the Central Intelligence Agency Prisoners and detainees of Panama