AN editorial this week in the Wall Street Journal provided a frightening insight into US thinking about the behaviour of European governments in relation to extraordinary rendition.

An Egyptian cleric today claimed the CIA “savagely” tortured him after he was allegedly kidnapped off the streets of Italy before being sent to Egypt for further interrogation.

An Egyptian Muslim preacher allegedly kidnapped by CIA agents off the streets of an Italian city and taken to Egypt has been released, his lawyer and a security official said today.