Former CIA operative Sabrina De Sousa faces extradition to Italy on May after being convicted of taking part in the Abu Omar kidnapping in Milan. She was detained at the Lisbon airport on a European arrest warrant.
According to The Guardian, De Sousa was arrested and convicted over the illegal counter-terrorism practice of extraordinary rendition of Egyptian cleric and terror suspect Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar.
Omar was abducted from the streets of Milan by CIA operatives on February 2003, allegedly with the help of Italian officials. He was flown to Egypt where he was beaten and subjected to electric shock torture. However, he was eventually released.
De Sousa, an ex-CIA operative who holds a dual American-Portuguese citizenship, is one of the 26 Americans convicted in absentia by Italian courts. According to the Washington Post, she previously did not face the threat of imprisonment and returned to the United States before trials began.
However, De Sousa moved to Portugal on a risk to be with relatives sometime last spring. She was eventually detained at the Lisbon airport on an arrest warrant. She is facing extradition to Italy on May 4 as declared by Portugal's highest court.
She was also arrested last October in Portugal and lost three appeals against being handed to Italian authorities when she tried to leave the country for a flight to India.
De Sousa expressed her optimism over having her case examined and eventually pardoned by Italian president Sergio Mattarella. She said, "I am very encouraged by recent developments... I will voluntarily meet with Italian authorities to provide further sensitive information, because before we were not allowed to defend ourselves and now I am going to do that if it is required."
According to Sputnik News, the ex-CIA operative insisted that she was not specifically involved in the extraordinary rendition maneuver as she only provided interpreting services during early-stage discussions in 2002.
Italy was also ordered by the European court of human rights to pay €70,000 (£55,000) in compensation to Abu Omar as well as €15,000 (£12,000) to his wife. This is in conjunction with the nation's role in the kidnapping.
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