Major Due Jail Term For Somalia Abuse

A major who told his troops they could abuse prisoners in Somalia three years ago was given a three-month jail term Monday and will be dismissed from the army.

Maj. Tony Seward is the first officer to be ordered jailed in a long-running scandal involving abuses committed by Canadian soldiers in Somalia in 1993.

Seward, who served in the now-disbanded Canadian Airborne Regiment, was reprimanded by a court martial in 1994 for telling his men they could abuse prisoners the night that two of his soldiers beat and tortured a Somali teenager to death.

In a ruling Monday, the Court Martial Appeal Court found that sentence too lenient and ordered Seward to serve three months in jail for his indirect role in the death of Shidane Arone, 16.

Several enlisted men have been convicted in connection with the death.