Ex-Liberian warlord sentenced to 30 years in U.S. prison

A former Liberian warlord known as 'Jungle Jabbah' was sentenced to 30 years in prison on Thursday for gaining U.S. asylum by lying about his role in the civil war in his homeland and atrocities he committed, U.S. prosecutors said on Thursday.

Mohammed Jabbateh, 51, who has lived in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, since the late 1990s, was found guilty in October on two counts of fraud in immigration documents and two counts of perjury.

During the height of Liberia's first civil war from 1992 to 1995, Jabbateh, while serving as commander of a warring group, either personally committed or ordered acts such as rapes, ritual cannibalism, mutilation, murder and the use of child soldiers, according to prosecutors.

An attorney for Jabbateh, Greg Pagano of Philadelphia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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