Liberia's Taylor Guilty of War Crimes in S. Leone, Faces Jail in Britain

Liberia's ex-president Charles Taylor, found guilty by an international court Thursday of war crimes in Sierra Leone, will serve his prison sentence in Britain, a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

The location and category of the prison will depend on the details of the verdict. "How strong the verdict is will determine the category of prison he is held in," the spokeswoman told Agence France Presse.

She added that Britain's offer in 2007 to host Taylor if he was found guilty was part of the deal to put him on trial in the Netherlands-based Special Court for Sierra Leone.

"It is also part of the role that Britain played in bringing peace to Sierra Leone and to developing those bilateral relations," the spokeswoman said.

The then British Prime Minister Tony Blair sent troops to Sierra Leone at the height of its brutal 1991-2001 civil war, in which 120,000 people were killed as rival factions fought over the country's diamonds.

Taylor was convicted Thursday of war crimes for arming Sierra Leone's rebels in return for blood diamonds during the war.