italian court convicts 23 americans kidnapping

[Carsten Wiethoff]

From http://intelnews.org/2016/01/18/01-1845/

Portugal court rules to extradite ex-CIA officer wanted in Italy for kidnapping

January 18, 2016 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment

A court in Portugal has ruled to extradite a former officer of the United States Central Intelligence Agency to Italy, where she faces charges of kidnapping a man as part of a secret operation. Sabrina De Sousa, 59, was an accredited diplomat stationed at the US consulate in Milan, Italy, in 2003, when a CIA team kidnapped Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from a Milan street in broad daylight. Nasr, who goes by the nickname Abu Omar, is a former member of Egyptian militant group al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, and was believed by the CIA to have links to al-Qaeda. Soon after his abduction, Nasr was renditioned to Egypt, where he says he was brutally tortured, raped, and held illegally for years before being released without charge.Upon Nasr's release from prison, Italian authorities prosecuted the CIA team that abducted him. They were able to trace the American operatives through the substantial trail of evidence that they left behind, including telephone records and bill invoices in luxury hotels in Milan and elsewhere. In 2009, De Sousa was among 22 CIA officers convicted in absentia in an Italian court for their alleged involvement in Nasr's abduction. Since the convictions were announced, the US government has not signaled a desire to extradite those convicted to Italy to serve prison sentences. However, those convicted are now classified as international fugitives and risk arrest by Interpol and other law enforcement agencies, upon exiting US territory.De Sousa was arrested at the Portela Airport in Lisbon, Portugal, in October of last year. She spent two nights in jail before being released. However, her passport was seized by Portuguese authorities until they decided whether to extradite her to Italy to face her conviction. The Reuters news agency said on Friday that De Sousa would "be surrendered to Italian authorities" so that she could be informed of the Italian court's decision to convict her in 2009. The news agency was reportedly told by a Portuguese court official that De Sousa would have to travel to Italy in order to be given official notice of her conviction, as well as the sentence, according to European legal conventions. Following that, she would have to return to Portugal to serve her sentence. Her lawyer said, however, that De Sousa planned to challenge her conviction at the Supreme Court of Cassation, Italy's highest court of appeal.

Also interesting in this context:

From http://ronaldthomaswest.com/2016/01/26/l...-of-italy/

Dear Mr President Mattarella
This letter is to inform yourself of little known facts concerning the career criminal Sabrina De Sousa; a woman most undeserving of a pardon by your office.
I am a former anti-corruption investigator now in self-exile for eight full years. My problem stems from having discovered a criminal ring working the inside of United States government for Chevron Corporation, an investigation that turns up the names John Yoo, Jay Bybee and ultimately, Condoleezza Rice.
It was at the end of my first year of life in exile I had encountered Sabrina De Sousa at Wiesbaden, Germany, summer of 2008. At this time I was in informal (unofficial) cooperation with German police, who were monitoring my circumstance, at my request, concerning criminal parties determined to assassinate myself. My encounter with De Sousa coincided with a circumstance where I managed to evade a trap nearly identical to the abduction of Abu Omar off the street in broad daylight.
The immense institutional cowardice of the German authorities, in possession of full knowledge of this and much more, officials who have sat on and refused to acknowledge and prosecute the several attempts at murder and/or kidnap of myself, is unconscionable. No doubt this institutional malfeasance is due to political pressures brought by the USA.
I am asking you to be different. To stand up and refuse any pressures to pardon the criminals of what amounts to an executive assassination ring of the United States. The rule of law has been in a serious state of deterioration and requires men of principled stance to end this erosion.
If we are to countenance what amounts to an empire of contemporary Gladio criminals, what hope will we hand to our children and grandchildren? The plain answer can only be "none."
I respectfully request any USA pressures to pardon Sabrina De Sousa be refused politely but also refused firmly and refused unconditionally.
I have arranged to have this letter translated to Italian. I will separately provide English language references testifying to my character and veracity, as well some certain further information.
With kindest regards
Ronald Thomas West

[Magda Hassan]

Wow, institutional cowardice indeed.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

I am still awaiting, if not with my breath held, if Mrs. DeSousa will be the first (and probably only) CIA operative going to jail for the rendering operation in Italy, seven years after being convicted.
The other interesting aspect is that letter by Ronald Thomas West, pointing to direct evidence that the CIA (with Mrs DeSousa) in Germany in 2008 tried to assasinate a US citizen to protect Chevron and Condoleeza Rice from criminal charges. Obviously US interests extend to the business interests of US corporations and the terrorists are the ones exposing fraud and criminal behaviour. Nothing to see here, move along.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

BTW, a glimpse view into the mind of Mrs De Sousa can be had here:
http://www.vocativ.com/usa/nat-sec/hung-...rican-spy/

The problem is, like so often, that these people are not thinking of their actions as crimes, but of heroic deeds for their country and for humanity. And if something goes wrong, they scream for protection and insurance.

Sorry, illegal warfare does not work like this.

[David Guyatt]

I can't but help think that considerable pressure Italy is going to come under from across the Atlantic, despite her saying she's being hung out to dry.

I thought the Chevron connection to Condo Rice and NSA intelligence plus the assassination team in Germany spoke volumes about the world we really live in today.

[Carsten Wiethoff]

I did not see this at the time:
http://www.thelocal.it/20151224/italy-gr...ial-pardon

Lady, "who was sentenced to nine years in prison, has received a partial pardon of two years," a statement from the Italian presidency said.

Betnie Medero, also a CIA agent, was granted a similar pardon, the statement said.

The decision to reduce the sentences was based on the United States' suspension of the extraordinary rendition programme since President Barack Obama first assumed office in 2009, it added.

And here is the letter from Robert Seldon Lady, former Milan Station Chief, in which he asks for pardon:
http://www.statewatch.org/news/2013/sep/...n-lady.pdf