A man who was once one of Liberia’s most violent warlords during that country’s brutal civil war was sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday for immigration fraud, after authorities said he lied about his past when he won asylum in the U.S.
Mohammed Jabbateh, 51, led the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy during Liberia’s first civil war in the early 1990s.
As the commander known as Jungle Jabbah, he once had a town chief killed and ordered his widow to cook her husband’s heart — one of several instances of what prosecutors called “ritual cannibalism.” He also recruited child soldiers, committed rape and had civilians mutilated, the government said.
But he shielded all of those activities when he applied for asylum in the U.S. in 1998, and then later when he applied to become a permanent resident. The government says the lies made both applications invalid — and earned him criminal charges.
“This case is yet another stark reminder of the urgent need to strengthen the integrity of our asylum system and enhance the vetting of those who seek to benefit from our immigration system,” said Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Jabbateh, who had been living in East Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, was found guilty at trial last year of two counts of immigration fraud and two counts of perjury stemming from his immigration applications.
Federal prosecutors said they couldn’t go after him for Liberian crimes, but they got him on what they could.
“This man is responsible for atrocities that will ripple for generations in Liberia,” said William M. McSwain, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. “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.”
According to court documents, Jabbateh lied when he said neither he nor any members of his family were part of guerrilla organizations.
Instead he claimed he was part of a security team working at the Liberian government’s executive mansion.
Court documents show he was something completely different.
One woman said Jabbateh’s troops killed her father in front of her after he tried to prevent the men from stealing his daughters. The woman was forced into sex slavery, coerced into sex with five different soldiers on her first night.
Another woman, also forced into sex slavery, recalled one night when the soldiers were lined up and Jabbateh served them a cooked heart he said had been cut out of an enemy.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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