U-TURN

Ex-CIA Spy Sabrina de Sousa Will Be Freed in Portugal

Extradition for rendition conviction canceled at last minute.

Former CIA officer Sabrina de Sousa, who was convicted of involvement in the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Italy, won a reprieve from extradition Wednesday and will be released, not deported to Italy to serve prison time. She was one of 26 people convicted in absentia over the kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from a Milan street. The capture was part of a U.S. “extraordinary rendition” program that kidnapped and questioned potential suspects in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. De Sousa was taken into custody last week by Portuguese police and was at Lisbon’s airport to fly to Italy when the news of the decision came. “She was in the airport this morning to be handed over to Italy, but is no longer there. She is not free yet, but will be released today,” de Sousa’s lawyer, Manuel Magalhaes e Silva, told Reuters. “The Milan prosecutor revoked the detention order. The Italian Interpol agents who are here to extradite her have been informed and the extradition is no longer happening.” On Tuesday, Italian President Sergio Mattarella gave de Sousa a partial pardon that reduced her sentence to three years from four. She can now apply for alternative sanctions instead of prison time.