A former CIA officer convicted in Italy of playing a role in a kidnapping under the agency’s “extraordinary rendition” program said Wednesday that she will be extradited to Italy and sent to prison.
Sabrina de Sousa was convicted in absentia by an Italian court — along with 25 other Americans — of the kidnapping of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar off the streets of Milan 13 years ago.
The kidnapping was part of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program, under which, as The Associated Press puts it, “terrorism suspects were kidnapped and transferred to centers where they were interrogated and tortured.” The program was greatly expanded during the George W. Bush administration, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
De Sousa, who was working undercover for the CIA in Italy at the time of Abu Omar’s kidnapping, denies personal involvement in the abduction. As NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly reported last month, De Sousa says she and her son were on a school trip to the ski slopes in northern Italy, more than 150 miles from Milan, for the entire week during which Abu Omar was abducted.
Read more at NPR
Image courtesy of newsweek.com
A former CIA officer convicted in Italy of playing a role in a kidnapping under the agency’s “extraordinary rendition” program said Wednesday that she will be extradited to Italy and sent to prison.
Sabrina de Sousa was convicted in absentia by an Italian court — along with 25 other Americans — of the kidnapping of Egyptian cleric Abu Omar off the streets of Milan 13 years ago.
The kidnapping was part of the CIA’s “extraordinary rendition” program, under which, as The Associated Press puts it, “terrorism suspects were kidnapped and transferred to centers where they were interrogated and tortured.” The program was greatly expanded during the George W. Bush administration, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
De Sousa, who was working undercover for the CIA in Italy at the time of Abu Omar’s kidnapping, denies personal involvement in the abduction. As NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly reported last month, De Sousa says she and her son were on a school trip to the ski slopes in northern Italy, more than 150 miles from Milan, for the entire week during which Abu Omar was abducted.
Read more at NPR
Image courtesy of newsweek.com
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