News in Brief

Former Comoros President Found Guilty of Passport Fraud

A court in Comoros has sentenced Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, ex-president of the Indian Ocean archipelago nation, to life in prison for selling passports to stateless people living in the Gulf.

According to Tanzania Daily News, Sambi, who is a political rival of incumbent 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 the passports.

Sambi, 64, who led Comoros between 2006 and 2011, enacted a law in 2008 allowing the sale of passports for high fees. The controversial scheme was aimed to give nationality to the so-called Bidoon – an Arab minority numbering in the tens of thousands who cannot obtain citizenship.