Jailed Liberian war criminal and ex-President Charles Taylor is alive, contrary to rumours circulating on social media, the UK's Ministry of Justice has told the BBC.

He was sentenced to 50 years in prison in May of 2012 after he was found guilty of all eleven charges levied by the Special Court, including terror, murder and rape. 

Charles Taylor 67, was accused of war of crimes and crimes against humanity as a result of his involvement in the Sierra Leone Civil War (1991–2002).

Domestically, opposition to his regime grew, culminating in the outbreak of the Second Liberian Civil War (1999–2003). By 2003, he had lost control of much of the countryside and was formally indicted by the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

That year, he resigned as a result of growing international pressure and went into exile in Nigeria. In 2006, the current President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, formally requested his extradition, after which he was detained by UN authorities in Sierra Leone and then at the Penitentiary Institution Haaglanen in The Hague, awaiting trial.