Charles Taylor to serve 50-year jail term in UK

Ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor is to serve his 50-year war crimes sentence in the UK, Justice Minister Jeremy Wright has confirmed.

Sweden and Rwanda had also offered to imprison him following the rejection of his appeal last month by a UN-backed special court in The Hague.
It ruled that his convictions had been proved beyond doubt. He was sentenced in May 2012 for aiding rebels who committed atrocities in Sierra Leone during its civil war.

Mr Wright made the announcement in a written statement to Parliament. The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) found Taylor, 65, guilty of 11 crimes including terrorism, rape, murder and the use of child soldiers by rebel groups in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 conflict.

He was found to have supplied weapons to the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels in exchange for a constant flow of so-called blood diamonds.

Taylor has always insisted he is innocent and his only contact with the rebels was to urge them to stop fighting.
He is the first former head of state convicted by an international war crimes court since World War II.