On 9 January, an Italian judge began preliminary hearings on the indictment of 26 Americans and 8 Italian officials, including the former head of the Italian Intelligence and Security Services (SISMI), Nicolo Pollari. The indictment relates to their alleged involvement in the abduction and rendition by CIA and SISMI of an Egyptian cleric, Abu Omar, in Milan in 2003. On 29 January, Nicolo Pollari’s lawyers sought to halt the proceedings on the ground that evidence, which they claimed proved his innocence, had been excluded as classified information.