US missionaries in Haiti charged with child abduction

Haiti has charged 10 US missionaries with child abduction and criminal conspiracy for allegedly trying to smuggle 33 children out of the country.

Haitian officials said their cases would now be sent to an investigating judge who would decide how to proceed.

If convicted they face lengthy jail terms, says the BBC's Paul Adams, in Haiti's quake-hit capital city.

When stopped on the border last Friday, they said they were taking the children to a Dominican Republic orphanage.

But it has emerged some of the youngsters had parents who were alive.

After the hearing the 10 missionaries were taken back to the jail where they have been kept since Friday.

What the heck where these people thinking? Even if I give them the benefit of the doubt that they were thinking in the best interest of the children, kidnapping is kidnapping. Read the rest of the BBC News article here