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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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May 15th,
2009 - Lawsuit Seeks Diplomatic Immunity in Italian Case News article from the Associated Press |
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Lawsuit Seeks Diplomatic Immunity
in Italian Case By Nedra Pickler Associated Press May 15, 2009 Washington - A former U.S.
official facing kidnapping charges in Italy for the seizure of a suspected
terrorist is suing the State Department to protect herself from prosecution. In the lawsuit filed
Wednesday in federal court in Washington, Sabrina De Sousa wants diplomatic
immunity and government-funded legal counsel in Italy. She claims she was a
foreign service officer working in Milan and was not involved in the 2003
seizure of Muslim cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar. But Italian prosecutors say
De Sousa, a 53-year-old India native, was a CIA officer working under
diplomatic cover and was one of four main U.S. officials responsible for
coordinating Nasr's capture from a Milan street in broad daylight on Feb. 17,
2003. Prosecutors say he was then
transported in a van to the Aviano Air Force Base, flown to the Ramstein Air
Base in southern Germany and then to his home country of Egypt, where he was
held and allegedly tortured. He has since been released. De Sousa is one of 26 U.S.
government officials and seven Italians charged with involvement in Nasr's
alleged kidnapping. In her suit, De Sousa denies that she worked for the CIA
and says at the time of the incident she was vacationing at a ski resort
nearly 130 miles away in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy. The case is in limbo, with a
judge planning to announce next week whether it can continue. Defense lawyers
are arguing that it's impossible for the case to proceed because Italy's high
court has thrown out key evidence on the grounds that it's considered
classified. Italian prosecutors accuse
De Sousa of planning the cleric's kidnapping and coordinating between all the
parties involved, as well as of trying to mislead Italian authorities after
the fact by telling them Nasr had relocated to the Balkans, according to a
summary of the charges and evidence. Prosecutor Armando Spataro
declined to comment on De Sousa's claims in her lawsuit against the State
Department. But a summary of the evidence against De Sousa that Spataro
provided says De Sousa was known to the Italian state police anti-terrorism
squad in Milan as a CIA agent attached to the local U.S. consulate. A 2005 search of the hard
drive in the home of former Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady also
yielded reference to a "Sabrina" in an e-mail from a clerk at the
consulate. In the e-mail, "Sabrina" is referred to as the person in
charge of keeping track of the Italian investigation. The CIA has refused to
comment on the trial, and the Americans are being tried in absentia. Their
lawyers were appointed by the Italian government and acted without any
contact with their clients. De Sousa says in her suit that she was instructed
by the State Department not to communicate with them. De Sousa says in her lawsuit
that she has received no response from letters to Hillary Rodham Clinton, the
secretary of state, and Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state under President
George W. Bush, asking them to invoke diplomatic immunity. She resigned her job in
February because of the department's refusal to give her immunity and because
she was denied permission to travel to India to visit her family. She said
she was told that she risks arrest and extradition to Italy if she leaves the
United States. State Department spokesman
Ian Kelly said the suit is under review and the agency had no immediate
comment. The suit says De Sousa has
been deprived of any recourse to respond to the allegations that have
impugned her reputation, and she asks that the State Department provide her
with a "name-clearing hearing" to challenge the accuracy of the
charges against her. The suit says she has been "effectively abandoned
and left to fend for herself by the very government she had faithfully served
for over a decade." "The U.S. government's
refusal to protect its diplomats and military personnel is virtually
unprecedented, and sets a terrible example for anyone who wishes to serve the
interests of the U.S. overseas," said De Sousa's lawyer, Mark Zaid. Associated Press reporter
Maria Sanminiatelli in New York contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009 The
Associated Press. External link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5h0HmqE7igbkDRzD-ROULYUOdM8TAD9868E200 Ex-Government Worker Sues
for Immunity in CIA Rendition Case By Peter Finn Washington Post May 15, 2009 A former U.S. government
employee, accused by Italy of participating in a CIA-organized kidnapping of
a militant Egyptian-born cleric in Milan, has sued the State Department
demanding that it invoke diplomatic immunity to quash any prosecution. Italian officials charge
that Sabrina De Sousa, 53, was one of 26 U.S agents who grabbed Hassan
Mustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar, in February 2003 and flew him to
Egypt, where he says he was imprisoned and tortured. Nasr has since been
released. De Sousa, a naturalized U.S.
citizen who was born in India, says she was ordered not to travel abroad
because of the fear of arrest, preventing her from visiting her mother in
India and siblings in Europe. De Sousa quit her job in the federal government
in February. Italian officials charge
that the disappearance of Nasr was part of a CIA rendition program in which
the agency abducted suspected terrorists and took them to third countries for
interrogation. De Sousa worked as a
consular official in Milan and said in court filings that she was on a
vacation at the time of Nasr's disappearance. "Even if the
allegations were true, though, her actions clearly fell within the scope of
her official duties and thereby entitle her to diplomatic/consular
immunity," according to the lawsuit, first reported in the New York
Times. Asked whether she had been a
CIA employee, her attorney, Mark Zaid, said De Sousa had been "a federal
employee working for the State Department." The CIA declined to comment.
A spokesman for the State Department said he could confirm her stated
employment record but would not comment further about her because the case is
in litigation. De Sousa said in a phone
interview that she repeatedly asked government agencies why diplomatic
immunity had not been invoked and was forced to sue because she did not get a
satisfactory response. "This is a political
thing that needs to go away once and for all," she said of the
prosecution. Italian prosecutor Armando
Spataro has issued arrest warrants for 26 U.S. officials, including De Sousa,
named as one of the four principal figures in the alleged kidnapping. All
were indicted in 2007. The prosecution was set back
this year when an Italian court said certain evidence was inadmissible
because prosecutors had violated state secrecy laws, but prosecutors have
vowed to press forward. A hearing is set for this month. De Sousa said the Italian
prosecution raises important concerns for government employees overseas.
"If you're going to fight this war on terror, are you going to protect
your people?" she asked. Staff researcher Julie Tate
contributed to this report. External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/14/AR2009051404100.html |