Mohammed Jabbateh, a former leader of a rebel faction in Liberia, has been sentenced to 30 years in a US prison after he was found to have lied in his asylum application over his role in committing potential war crimes during the Liberian civil war.
Mr Jabbateh, nicknamed ‘Jungle Jabbah’, has lived in Pennsylvania for the last 20 years. He was found guilty on two counts of fraud in immigration documents and two counts of perjury and sentenced this week.
He had arrived in the country in 1998 and applied for asylum as the armed conflict in Liberia ended. However, he was found to have lied about his role in the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) and later the ULIMO-K. He is accused of personally committing or ordering acts such as “rapes, ritual cannibalism, mutilation, murder and the use of child soldiers”, reports The Guardian.
Prosecutors flew in at least 17 Liberian victims into the United States to give evidence at his trial.
Read more from the Guardian here.
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