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6 Convicted Aid Workers Leaving Chad

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By JEFFREY SCHAEFFER, The Associated Press

Published: December 29, 2007

LE BOURGET, France - Six French charity workers sentenced to eight years' forced labor in Chad for trying to kidnap 103 children were transferred to France on Friday, judicial officials said.

The six from Zoe's Ark were sentenced in Chad on Wednesday and sent home under a 1976 judicial accord between the two countries that allows for the repatriation of convicts. The prospect of their return provoked protests in the former French colony in central Africa, with Chadians denouncing what they see as special treatment for Europeans.

Because France does not have forced labor, the French justice system is likely to commute or reduce their sentences. But under the judicial accord, Chadian officials must agree to the terms of any sentencing changes.

Chadian authorities stopped the aid group's convoy with the children in October. The charity had planned to fly the children to France, saying they were driven by compassion to help orphans in Darfur, the western Sudanese region that borders Chad. A 4-year-old war there has left at least 200,000 people dead.

Later investigations showed most of the children had at least one parent or close adult relative.

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