Liberia denies extradition request for Charles Taylor

MONROVIA – A spokesperson for Liberia’s government on Saturday denied the president issued an extradition request for exiled ex-warlord Charles Taylor.

Taylor’s wife, Jewel, said her husband received a copy of a letter on Friday purportedly from Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf asking Nigerian head of state Olusegun Obasanjo to extradite Taylor to face trial at a war-crimes tribunal in neighbouring Sierra Leone, where he is wanted for his role in helping fuel that country’s civil war. Liberia’s Information Minister, Johnny McClain, denied the claim.”Neither this government nor Mrs [Johnson-]Sirleaf has presented a letter to President Obasanjo on the issue of Taylor,” McClain said.Taylor has lived in exile in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar since being forced from power under a peace deal brokered in 2003 that ended a rebel assault on the capital, Monrovia.His wife, Jewel, is now a senator in Liberia’s post-war government.Both Nigeria and Liberia have been under heavy international pressure to hand over Taylor to the court, something Nigeria has repeatedly refused to do.- Nampa-APLiberia’s Information Minister, Johnny McClain, denied the claim.”Neither this government nor Mrs [Johnson-]Sirleaf has presented a letter to President Obasanjo on the issue of Taylor,” McClain said.Taylor has lived in exile in the southern Nigerian city of Calabar since being forced from power under a peace deal brokered in 2003 that ended a rebel assault on the capital, Monrovia.His wife, Jewel, is now a senator in Liberia’s post-war government.Both Nigeria and Liberia have been under heavy international pressure to hand over Taylor to the court, something Nigeria has repeatedly refused to do.- Nampa-AP