No decision in bail hearing for Liberian politician
A federal judge in Philadelphia heard testimony Tuesday in a bail hearing for a former Liberian insurgent and politician accused of lying on an application for U.S. citizenship.
A federal judge in Philadelphia heard testimony Tuesday in a bail hearing for a former Liberian insurgent and politician accused of lying on an application for U.S. citizenship.
Juncontee Thomas Woewiyu, 69, who has been in custody since May, told U.S. District Judge Anita Brody that he has five children and 17 grandchildren in Collingdale, Delaware County, and that he would not leave the country if he were granted bail.
"All of my children have been with me since 2005. All I live for is my children. I am not a flight risk," Woewiyu said.
When he was arrested in May at Newark International Airport, Woewiyu was heading to Iowa to rally for expatriates there.
Woewiyu, who was the minister of defense for former President Charles Taylor's National Patriotic Front of Liberia, is charged with perjury, fraudulently trying to gain citizenship, and false statements. Taylor, a convicted war criminal, is serving a 50-year sentence in a British prison.
Woewiyu allegedly lied on a 2006 application for citizenship, prosecutors said.
Robert Craig, a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security, said one question on the application was: Have you ever advocated the overthrow of any government?
Craig said Woewiyu answered "No."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Linwood C. Wright urged the judge to deny Woewiyu's request for bail, noting that Woewiyu had traveled to Liberia many times over the last decade.
About 20 of Woewiyu's relatives and friends, including several children, attended the hearing.
At the end of a three-hour hearing, Brody said she would issue a ruling later.
215-854-5717