MILAN, Italy – The wife of an Egyptian cleric taken from a Milan street, allegedly as part of the CIA's extraordinary rendition program, wept Wednesday as she described her husband's alleged torture in an Egyptian jail.

LUCA BRUNO/The Associated Press

Ghali Nabila testified that her husband, an Egyptian cleric, was tortured over 14 months.

Heavily veiled and speaking through a translator, Ghali Nabila testified in the trial of 26 Americans charged with kidnapping in the disappearance of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr in February 2003.

"They put him on a cross. They beat him on the ears and all over his body," she said, citing a letter from her husband and conversations with him.

"They positioned him on a chair, tied up his hands and his feet," she said before breaking into tears. "And they gave him electrical shock all over his body, even his genitals."

Ms. Nabila, 39, said the torture continued over 14 months.

Earlier, the judge in the case ruled that Premier Silvio Berlusconi, who has just been elected to a new term, must testify. He is considered a key witness because he was premier when Mr. Nasr disappeared.

Judge Oscar Magi also ruled that former Premier Romano Prodi and senior officials from both Mr. Berlusconi's and Mr. Prodi's past governments will be called to testify, but it was not clear when.

Italian prosecutors say Mr. Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was abducted as part of the CIA's program of extraordinary rendition, in which terror suspects are moved from country to country without public legal proceedings. Mr. Nasr was freed last year.

The CIA has declined to comment on the case.

All but one American suspect in the case have been identified by prosecutors as CIA agents. They are being tried in absentia, and their Italian lawyers are all court-appointed, having had no direct contact with their clients.

Colleen Barry,

The Associated Press