Liberia's Charles Taylor appeals at The Hague

Liberia's jailed ex-President Charles Taylor has started his appeal at a UN-backed special court in The Hague.

Last May, the court sentenced him to 50 years in prison for aiding and abetting rebels in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2002 civil war.

Defence lawyers have called the verdict a "miscarriage of justice" and want the conviction to be quashed.

The prosecution, however, wants the sentence extended to 80 years, saying he also gave orders to the rebels.

In the court's original judgement, he was acquitted on these charges, with the judge finding that the prosecution had failed to prove its claims.

Taylor became the first former head of state to be convicted of war crimes by an international court since the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after World War II.

Throughout his trial, the former Liberian leader, who was arrested in 2006, maintained his innocence.

Last week Taylor, 64, reportedly wrote to MPs demanding a presidential pension of $25,000 (£15,600) in Liberia.

Describing the withholding of his state presidential pension as a "mammoth injustice", Taylor was quoted in the letter as saying that he was entitled to consular access and diplomatic services at The Hague, but he had been "denied that right".