Ex-Liberian warlord living in Pennsylvania sentenced to 30 years for immigration fraud
April 22 (UPI) -- A former Liberian warlord who had been living in Pennsylvania for two decades was sentenced to 30 years in prison for lying to immigration officials about his brutal past.
Mohammed Jabbateh, 51, had been running a international shipping business while living in a Philadelphia suburb since the 1990s. But before he claimed refugee asylum in the United States in December 1998, Jabbateh was known in Liberia as "Jungle Jabbah," a commander of armed groups during that country's first civil war between 1989 and 1996.
During that tine, Jabbateh ordered civilians to be murdered, raped, tortured and enslaved. During his trial last year, victims told their stories, including a woman who was forced into sex slavery at 13. Another woman said Jabbateh and his men murdered her husband and then forced her to cook her dead spouse's heart and serve it to them.
"This defendant committed acts of such violence and depravity that they are almost beyond belief," said U.S. Attorney William M. McSwain in a statement. "This man is responsible for atrocities that will ripple for generations in Liberia. He thought he could hide here but thanks to the determination and creativity of our prosecutors and investigators, he couldn't. This prosecution was our only option under the law and his sentence achieves at least some measure of justice for his victims."
Read more: https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2018/04/22/Ex-Liberian-warlord-living-in-Pa-sentenced-to-30-years-for-immigration-fraud/5791524442285/
