Philip Waki set to hear suit by jailed Taylor in The Hague

Kenyan judge Philip Waki (left) is set to hear a suit filed by jailed Sierra Leon warlord Charles Taylor against Britain for allegedly denying him right to family life.

Taylor, who is serving a 50-year sentence in Britain, has sued the country at the UN’s Special Court for Sierra Leone which is based in The Hague, Netherlands. He is claiming that his detention in Britain denies him his human rights.

Waki is one of the judges of the court which convicted Taylor in April 2012.

Taylor, 66, is serving the sentence for crimes against humanity in Durham jail but he is asking to be transferred to Rwanda.

The UK agreed to imprison him after he was convicted at The Hague of a horrifying campaign of rape, murder and terrorism that cost tens of thousands of lives in Sierra Leone.

Taylor says in the suit that his wife and 15 children should not have to travel from Africa to visit him in Britain jail. Further, he claims that he fears being attacked in jail.

According to English Press, the British Government will have to spend tens of thousands of pounds contesting the case and flying Taylor to the Netherlands for his appeal.

Taylor was convicted of 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He aided murderous rebels in Sierra Leone’s 11-year civil war that ended in 2002 and left 250,000 people dead.  The trial was held in The Hague to avoid renewed unrest in the West African country.

But despite his crimes, he claims to have a right to be near his family, who remain in Africa.

In a letter sent to the Dutch court, he says it would be easier – and less expensive – for his family to visit him in Africa.

His wife, Victoria Addison Taylor, claimed his incarceration among ‘common British prisoners’ was humiliating. “They took him to this prison where high risk criminals, terrorists and other common British criminals are kept and he is being classified as a high-risk prisoner.”