MILAN/ROME, (Reuters) – An Italian judge sentenced 23  Americans to up to eight years in prison yesterday for the  abduction of a Muslim cleric, in a symbolic condemnation of the  CIA “rendition” flights used by the former U.S. government.

The Americans were all tried in absentia because the United  States refused to extradite them but the sentence, the first of  its kind, was welcomed by campaigners who have long complained  that the renditions policy violated basic human rights.

“This decision sends a clear message to all governments that  even in the fight against terrorism you can’t forsake the basic  rights of our democracies,” said prosecutor Armando Spataro.

Judge Oscar Magi handed down the convictions for the  abduction of Egyptian-born cleric Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr,  snatched off a Milan street in 2003 and flown to Egypt for  interrogation.

The heaviest sentence — eight years in prison — was handed  down to the former head of the CIA’s Milan station, Robert  Seldon Lady, while 21 other former agents got five years each.  U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Romano was also  sentenced to five years.