/ 15 December 2000

33 LESOTHO SOLDIERS JAILED FOR MUTINY

A LESOTHO court martial has handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 13 years to 33 soldiers convicted of mutiny in the tiny kingdom’s 1998 uprising, put down by troops from South Africa and Botswana. The soldiers would also be “reduced to their ranks and had to be discharged with ignominy from the defence force,” court president Colonel Phatuli Lekanyane said. The soldiers had faced the possibility of execution. – AFP