Sabrina De Sousa
Portuguese-American CIA operative
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sabrina de Sousa (born 1956) is a Portuguese-American former CIA operative[1][2][3][4][5] who was convicted, in absentia, of kidnapping for her role in the 2003 abduction and rendition of Muslim cleric Abu Omar, who was seized in Milan and later tortured. Sousa was sentenced to four years in prison. A European Arrest Warrant was issued for her, and she was arrested in Portugal in 2015. After exhausting her appeals against extradition, she was granted a presidential pardon by Italy in February 2017 that halted the extradition. She was still required to perform community service when she left Italy for the United States in October 2019, citing fears for her safety.
Sabrina de Sousa | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956 (age 69–70) |
| Conviction | Kidnapping |
In 2009, Sousa sued the State Department, arguing that it should grant her diplomatic immunity for her role in the case. The department denied she had immunity, and she lost the lawsuit. In a July 2013 interview with McClatchy, she confirmed she had worked undercover for the CIA at the time of the kidnapping, but maintained she played no role in it, was unaware of the plans, and was on a ski trip when it occurred.
Early life
Role in the abduction of Abu Omar
The underlying case, known as the "Abu Omar case" or the "Imam Rapito affair," concerns Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr (Abu Omar), a Muslim cleric abducted by the CIA on February 17, 2003, and transported to Aviano Air Base before being transferred to Egypt, where he was interrogated and allegedly tortured.[7][8] The case involved "kidnapping charges in Italy for the seizure of a suspected terrorist."[9] The Italian government initially denied any role in the abduction, but prosecutors Armando Spataro and Ferdinando Pomarici indicted roughly two dozen American and Italian officials and agents.[10]
Sousa was among those indicted. She is not accused of physically abducting Nasr but is alleged to have helped produce false documents intended to mislead investigators.[11] Italian authorities issued an arrest warrant for her in 2006[12] and publicly named her in July 2008.[13] She has said she was on vacation at a ski resort in Madonna di Campiglio, roughly 130 miles from Milan, at the time of the abduction.[9]
Italian authorities describe Sousa as an intelligence officer[14][9] operating under diplomatic cover as part of a CIA network.[15] She has consistently identified herself as a diplomat.[14][9][6][16][12][17] She was registered with the U.S. Embassy in Rome as a Second Secretary while posted in Milan,[18] and worked for the State Department until resigning in February 2009.[14]
An Italian court convicted her of kidnapping on November 4, 2009, following a trial in absentia in which she pleaded not guilty.[19][20]
Detention and extradition proceedings
Sousa was detained at Lisbon Airport on October 5, 2015,[21][22] and her passport was confiscated based on the outstanding 2009 warrant.[21][22] In January 2016, a Portuguese court ordered her extradited to Italy.[22] She appealed, disputing the case against her and writing a memoir defending her account,[22] but on April 11, 2016, Portugal's Supreme Court denied the appeal and upheld the extradition order.[23][6]
She then appealed to Portugal's Constitutional Court, arguing that Portuguese and Italian law treated in absentia convictions differently — Portugal generally guarantees a retrial in such cases, while Italy does not. On June 8, 2016, the Constitutional Court upheld the extradition order, leaving Sousa again facing transfer to Italy.
Lawsuit for diplomatic immunity
Sousa sued in U.S. federal court for recognition as a diplomat with immunity from prosecution.[24] According to the Associated Press, she sought both diplomatic immunity and U.S. government-funded legal counsel in Italy, maintaining she had worked as a foreign service officer in Milan and had no role in Nasr's seizure; Italian prosecutors, by contrast, described her as a CIA officer under diplomatic cover and one of four American officials responsible for coordinating the operation.[9][25]
Sousa also argued that classified CIA documents existed that would have supported her defense but were withheld from her as state secrets, undermining her ability to contest the charges.[26][27][28][29]
Pardon and departure from Italy
Sousa ultimately lost all of her appeals against extradition.[26][27][30][31][32][33] Her lawyers told the Associated Press that Portuguese authorities took her into custody on February 20, 2017, ahead of her expected transfer to Italy.
On February 28, 2017, Italian President Sergio Mattarella commuted her sentence to three years — a threshold under Italian law that allowed her to serve the remainder under house arrest or community service rather than in prison.[34] Her original seven-year sentence had already been reduced to four years before the commutation.[19] Following the pardon, Italian prosecutors withdrew the extradition order.[34][35]
Sousa had publicly expressed hope that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump would intervene on her behalf,[36][37][38] and some observers speculated that diplomatic pressure from the new administration contributed to Italy's decision.[39][40][41]
In October 2019, Sousa left Italy for the United States, saying she feared for her safety.[42]