Sabrina De Sousa

Sabrina de Sousa (born 1956) is a Portuguese-American former CIA operative 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.

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 Sousa was born in Goa, then part of Portuguese India, and grew up in Mumbai. She holds Portuguese and American citizenship, having naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1985. 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.

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. 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. She has consistently identified herself as a diplomat. and worked for the State Department until resigning in February 2009.

Detention and extradition proceedings Sousa was detained at Lisbon Airport on October 5, 2015, and her passport was confiscated based on the outstanding 2009 warrant.

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. 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.