8 Years Hard Labor for French in Chad (Zoe's Ark)

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

8 Years Hard Labor for French in Chad

By DANY PADIRE
Wednesday, December 26, 2007; 1:34 PM

N'DJAMENA, Chad -- A Chadian court convicted six French
aid workers of trying to kidnap 103 African children and
sentenced them Wednesday to eight years of forced labor.

The sentence came on the fourth day of the trial of the
workers for the charity Zoe's Ark, who were charged with
fraud and kidnapping after authorities stopped a convoy
with 103 children that the group was planning to fly to
France.

The defendants maintain they were driven by compassion
to help orphans in Darfur, which borders Chad. An uprising
that flared in Darfur in 2003 has led to the deaths of
more than 200,000 people and forced 2.5 million to flee.

But subsequent investigations revealed most of the 103
children that Zoe's Ark was planning to fly out were
Chadians who lived with at least one parent or close
adult relative.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/26/AR2007122600976.html

[AngryAmish]

1. About right

They should not have lied to the parents.