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Italian clemency for former CIA officer Italy grants partial clemency to former CIA officer
(35 minutes later)
Italy's president has granted a partial pardon to a former CIA officer for her role in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian cleric.Italy's president has granted a partial pardon to a former CIA officer for her role in the 2003 abduction of an Egyptian cleric.
Sabrina de Sousa, who had been convicted in absentia, was detained by Portuguese police last week.Sabrina de Sousa, who had been convicted in absentia, was detained by Portuguese police last week.
President Sergio Mattarella's decision to reduce the American's sentence from four years to three means she can apply to alternative sanctions to prison. President Sergio Mattarella's decision to reduce the American's sentence from four years to three means she can apply for alternative sanctions to prison.
De Sousa denies involvement in the seizure of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr.De Sousa denies involvement in the seizure of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version. The former CIA agent, who also holds Portuguese nationality, had been due to be flown from Lisbon to Milan on Wednesday to start serving her sentence.
If you want to receive Breaking News alerts via email, or on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App then details on how to do so are available on this help page. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on Twitter to get the latest alerts. In all, Italy's court in 2009 convicted 23 Americans and two Italians over the kidnapping. All the Americans were tried in absentia.
Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, was seized under the CIA's "extraordinary rendition" programme.
After being taken from Milan to Egypt, via US air bases in Italy and Germany, he was held for four years without trial before being released. He said he had been tortured.
But in December 2013, he was convicted in absentia of "criminal association for the purposes of international terrorism" by a court in Milan and sentenced to six years in prison.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights condemned Italy over the abduction, ordering it to pay €115,000 (£98,247; $121,600) in damages and expenses to Nasr and his wife Nabila Ghali.
In an interview with the BBC's HARDtalk programme in August 2016 de Sousa described rendition programmes as "totally counterproductive".