U.S. Court Sentences Ex-Liberian Warlord ‘Jungle Jabbah’ To 30 Years In Prison

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

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.

Prosecutors said while applying for asylum in December 1998,
Jabbateh was not truthful about his membership in the group known
as the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO),
and later ULIMO-K, rebel groups that battled for control of
Liberia.

Two dozen witnesses, including 17 Liberian victims, testified in
the trial.

According to testimony, in one instance Jabbateh ordered that
the heart of a captive be cooked and fed to his fighters. In
another, fighters under his command murdered a villager, removed
his heart and ordered the town chief’s wife to cook it.

Jabbateh later had the town chief himself murdered and ordered
his widow to cook her husband’s heart.

During Jabbateh’s trial Pagano said Jabbateh had been framed by
accusers who were desperate to blame anyone they could for
atrocities committed during the civil war.

“These are tall tales of enemies settling old scores – not
because they had personal experiences with him but because of what
group he’s identified with,” Pagano said at the trial, according to
a posting on his website.

“There is no greater motive than revenge.”

The case was investigated by special agents of Homeland Security
Investigations, an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security.

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

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.

Prosecutors said while applying for asylum in December 1998,
Jabbateh was not truthful about his membership in the group known
as the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO),
and later ULIMO-K, rebel groups that battled for control of
Liberia.

Two dozen witnesses, including 17 Liberian victims, testified in
the trial.

According to testimony, in one instance Jabbateh ordered that
the heart of a captive be cooked and fed to his fighters. In
another, fighters under his command murdered a villager, removed
his heart and ordered the town chief’s wife to cook it.

Jabbateh later had the town chief himself murdered and ordered
his widow to cook her husband’s heart.

During Jabbateh’s trial Pagano said Jabbateh had been framed by
accusers who were desperate to blame anyone they could for
atrocities committed during the civil war.

“These are tall tales of enemies settling old scores – not
because they had personal experiences with him but because of what
group he’s identified with,” Pagano said at the trial, according to
a posting on his website.

“There is no greater motive than revenge.”

The case was investigated by special agents of Homeland Security
Investigations, an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland
Security.