Comoros ex-president sentenced to life in prison for 'high treason'

By Kizito Makoye

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (AA) – A court in the Comoros on Monday sentenced Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, ex-president of the East African country, to a life sentence for "high treason."

Sambi, 64, an arch rival of President Azali Assoumani, was sentenced by the State Security Court, a special judicial body whose rulings cannot be appealed, after he was convicted of selling passports to stateless people living in the Gulf.

"Sambi is sentenced to life imprisonment," court president Omar Ben Ali said, reading out the verdict, which also stripped the former leader of the right to vote and hold public office.

"The court orders his property and assets to be confiscated to the benefit of the public treasury," he also said.

Sambi was convicted in absentia after refusing to attend proceedings. The unprecedented trial has evoked mixed feeling in the island nation.