Italy - Egyptian Cleric Convicted - NYTimes.com An Egyptian cleric kidnapped in Italy in 2003 as part of the C.I.A."s extraordinary rendition program was convicted in absentia of decade-old terrorism charges and sentenced to six years in prison by an Italian court on Friday, lawyers involved in the case said. The cleric, Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, has been in Egypt since resurfacing after his abduction and is unlikely to be returned to Italy to serve the sentence. His lawyer denied that his client was in any way associated with terrorism. Italian authorities had been investigating Mr. Nasr as a terrorism suspect for more than a year when he was abducted from a Milan street and transferred to Egypt via Germany as part of the C.I.A."s program of moving terrorism suspects to third countries that permitted torture. Mr. Nasr claims that he was tortured in Egypt. Twenty-six Americans were convicted of kidnapping in Italy; all were tried in absentia, and none served any prison time. Italian prosecutors reactivated the dormant case against Mr. Nasr in May to complete the proceedings interrupted by the kidnapping.