(Newswire.net — March 6, 2017) — Former CIA agent from G.W. Bush era claims she was abandoned by her former employer, the CIA, and the Obama administration, and thanks the Trump administration for her rescue.
Convicted in absentia by the Italian Ministry of Justice for her role in kidnapping an alleged Al-Qaida member, 61-year-old Sabrina De Sousa was arrested in 2015 in Portugal, and was waiting for extradition to Italy.
Former CIA agent was accused for her role in kidnapping Egyptian cleric, Osama Mustapha Hassan Nasr, a.k.a. Abu Omar, in 2003 under the suspicion that he is an Al-Qaida member who plans to bomb-attack a school bus in Milan. Abu Omar was handed over to Egyptian authorities for interrogation.
When it turned out that the case against Abu Omar was false, he was released. He later claimed that he was tortured by Egyptians during his imprisonment.
De Sousa lived in America under the shadow of conviction, but decided to take a risk and visit her dying mother in Portugal. Since she was on the list of wanted by Interpol, she was arrested. She said that former CIA Director, John Brennan, visited Portugal twice in 2016, but her case was never discussed.
Former CIA agent appealed several times, but managed only to prolong her extradition to Italy. Her lawyers claimed not only that she could not be responsible for what Egyptians did to Abu Omar, but submitted evidence that De Sousa was hundred miles away when he was kidnapped.
“I had feared that the country I signed up to serve for in good faith had abandoned me,” De Sousa said.
She was described by Newsweek as “bitter at Obama’s administration officials for not activating the diplomatic immunity on her.” De Sousa disclosed that she was a CIA agent on a mission in a foreign country. Accusing Obama and former CIA director, John Brennan, for abandoning her, she also sued Hillary Clinton’s State Department for “significant emotional, professional and economic harm.”
After Trump won the elections, the administration changed and so did De Sousa’s faith. Only days before her supposed extradition, the new administration used its diplomatic influence to intervene in her case, and managed to set her free.
One of the firmest De Sousa’s supporters, Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), told Fox News that while Obama released prisoners from GITMO, he had abandoned jailed CIA officer De Sousa.
While praising Trump’s administration for acting fast and being decisive, Hoekstra criticized Bush and Obama, accusing them of knowing that De Sousa was merely a political pawn, and for letting her suffer for doing what she was sent out to do. Hoekstra also criticized the Italian and Portuguese governments for not having the strength to blame G.W. Bush, who authorized the rendition of Abu Omar, but instead settled with De Sousa.