• Delay or Denial …As VP Taylor’s Visa Delay Sparks Concern, Source: The ANALYST
• Agnes Taylor Family Breaks Silence over Imprisonment for War Crimes in British Jail, Source: FrontPage Africa

Delay or Denial …As VP Taylor’s Visa Delay Sparks Concern, Source: The ANALYST

The Analyst says there are speculations that Vice President Jewel Howard Taylor has been denied an entry visa to the United States by the US Embassy in Monrovia. The speculations come at a time when the vice president is expected to lead an array of Liberian women to the United States for a women confab. Whether or not the information is true, such news is shocking and alarming considering the cordial relationship that subsists between Liberia and the United States.

Agnes Taylor Family Breaks Silence over Imprisonment for War Crimes in British Jail, Source: FrontPage Africa

FrontPage Africa reports that Laurice Reeves Bryant struggled to hold back her emotions as she explained what the past few months have been like for she and her family. Her sister, Dr. Agnes Reeves Taylor, a former wife to former Liberian President Charles Taylor was picked up last June from her home in Dagenham, East London and arrested by the Metropolitan Police War Crimes Unit and charged the following day with one accusation of conspiracy to torture and three accusations of infliction of severe pain or suffering in the performance of official duties. The charges referred to facts occurred between 23 December 1989 and 1 January 1991.

On June 3, 2017, just two days after her arrest, Dr. Taylor appeared before the Westminster Magistrate Court and her bail application was denied. She remains in custody. A preliminary hearing was held on 30 June 2017 before the Westminster Magistrate Court and on August 11, 2017, the tribunal refused to grant her a provisional release. “It’s been hard for all of us especially her children, who now have both parents locked up in prison,” Mrs. Bryant lamented in an interview with FrontPage Africa.

She points to one local organization behind war crimes pursuit of former figures tied to the war and a Geneva-based organization. “My sister Dr. Agnes Reeves Taylor was arrested at her home in London on June 1, 2017 by the London Metropolitan Police, interrogated for two days consecutively, charged with alleged and unsubstantiated war crimes covering 1990 and kept in isolation for 12 days without any contact with her family based only on accusations advanced by Civitas Maxima of Zurich, Switzerland through its subsidiary, Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP) headed by Hassan Bility.”

Mrs. Bryant argues that even though her sister was never flagged as a person of interest in the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s testimonies or its final report 2009, she is now being accused and charged by the UK authorities on allegations she says has been put together by Mr. Bility and his band of witnesses of heinous crimes allegedly committed in 1990. “I believe that my sister was a victim of opportunity and an easy target for Hassan Bility only for financial gain. He doesn’t care how many people and families he hurts as long as he can continue to line his pockets and get rich at the expense of others.” Mr. Bility, when contacted by FrontPage Africa, said the GJRP could not comment on ongoing investigations. Read more