Ex-CIA spy fights extradition to Italy prison

LISBON, Portugal -- A former CIA operative convicted of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric in Milan as part of the U.S. extraordinary-rendition program is fighting against being sent to Italy to serve the six-year sentence she received in absentia there, a Portuguese court official said Friday.

Sabrina De Sousa, who has both U.S. and Portuguese citizenship, was arrested at Lisbon's international airport Monday on a European arrest warrant issued by Italy.

She told a judge Tuesday that she wants to stay in Portugal, where she has been living recently, Luis Vaz das Neves, president of the Lisbon court handling her case, said Friday.

De Sousa also "expressed a wish to serve her sentence, if she has to serve it, here in Portugal," he said.

De Sousa was among 26 Americans, mostly CIA agents, convicted in absentia in the kidnapping of Milan cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, known as Abu Omar, from a Milan street on Feb. 17, 2003.

De Sousa claims she was never notified of the Italian court decision, according to Vaz das Neves.

De Sousa handed both her passports over to the Lisbon court, which gave her 10 days to provide written arguments against her extradition. In the meantime, she must report weekly to a police station.

The court believed she was not a flight risk, Vaz das Neves said, since she had a return plane ticket to Lisbon, is a Portuguese citizen and says she wants to settle in Portugal.

De Sousa, who operated for the CIA under diplomatic cover, was initially acquitted because of diplomatic immunity but was found guilty by Italy's highest court in 2014.

Vaz das Neves said De Sousa was trying to fly to Goa, a one-time Portuguese territory in India, to see her 89-year-old mother when she was arrested.

A Section on 10/10/2015

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