Charles Taylor's wife is the Liberian arrested over civil war torture

An ex-wife of former Liberian president Charles Taylor was charged by British police on Friday with four torture offences committed between 1989 and 1991 during the west African nation’s civil war.

Agnes Reeves Taylor, 51, was arrested in east London on Thursday and police searched two properties.

The Metropolitan Police said she was charged with agreeing to conduct that amounts to the commission of torture.

She has also been charged with three counts of intentionally inflicting severe pain or suffering on an individual in the performance of her official duties.

She will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates Court on Saturday.

From 1989 to 2003, up to a quarter of a million people in Liberia were killed in a civil war, while thousands more were mutilated and raped.

REUTERS