Italy has assured that Rome-Washington ties will not be marred, after an Italian court convicted 23 US agents over the abduction of an Egyptian cleric.

As the decision was taken by an Italian court and not the government "I don't think there will be any problems," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said late on Monday.

"As you well know, the Italian government was of a different opinion," he added.

Last week, a court in Milan convicted 22 former CIA agents and a retired US Air Force colonel for the abduction of Milan imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, in 2003.

Nasr, who was kidnapped over alleged suspicions of recruiting fighters, was taken to a US military installation in northeastern Italy, then flown to a US base in Germany, and then on to Cairo, where he says he was tortured and threatened with rape.

Despite a successful government suit invoking secrecy that ruled out much of the evidence and resulted in three CIA operatives obtaining immunity, Italy's judiciary went ahead with the case.

Two top former Italian security agents were also cleared of all charges due to secrecy norms while two less senior operatives were convicted.

The 23 former US agents are not likely to serve time behind the bars, but will not be able to return to Europe, where their arrest warrants remain active.

The two-year Milan trial was the first case in which the controversial US practice of 'extraordinary rendition' was challenged in court.

Rendition was first authorized by former US president Bill Clinton in the 1990s and stepped up after George W. Bush declared his so-called war on terror following the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York.

The US State Department has expressed its disappointment over the Italian verdict.

FF/MMA