Taylor family to pray for 'favourable' appeal outcome.

 
The family of jailed former Liberian President Charles Taylor will hold a prayer service on Saturday ahead of the ruling on his appeal against a 50-year sentence handed down by a UN-backed court.

Taylor was convicted at The Hague last May for "some of the most heinous crimes in human history" for his role in aiding and abetting rebels in the neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-1992 civil war.

According to the family’s spokesman, Mr Sando D. Johnson, the prayer service is meant to “invoke God’s intervention in the wake of [the] appeal judgment” next Monday.

Taylor is the first former head of state to be convicted for war crimes by an international court since the Nuremberg trials after World War II.

The UN-backed court’s 50-year sentence against Taylor was widely welcomed around the world.

Taylor’s lawyers filed more than 40 grounds of appeal against the ruling, seeking to reverse the conviction.

Appeal judges will deliver the ruling next Monday.

“Whatever the outcome of the appeal judgment, as God–fearing people, the family will continue to seek God’s guidance and direction for the former leader,” Mr Johnson said.

Taylor’s family called on those who will attend the service to carry a white cloth to symbolise purity when praying for Taylor.

“The prayer service remains a non-political issue, as such we urge the public to demonstrate a high degree of respect to the family and nation as we observe these difficult times in the country’s history,” he added.