An Italian judge has convicted twenty-three Americans, mostly CIA operatives, for kidnapping a Muslim cleric from the streets of Milan in 2003. The Americans were all tried in absentia after the United States refused to hand them over. The convictions turn the CIA agents into international fugitives who risk arrest abroad. The case marks the first time any American has been convicted for taking part in a so-called “extraordinary rendition.” It centers around the Egyptian cleric Abu Omar, who was taken to US bases in Italy and Germany before being sent to Egypt, where he was tortured during a four-year imprisonment.