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Libby to go to prison soon
02/07/2007 21:27 - (SA)
Washington - A US appeals court has unanimously ruled that a former aide to Vice-President Dick Cheney cannot delay his 2½ year prison term in the CIA leak case.
The decision is a dramatic setback for I Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who will most probably have to go to prison soon.
The ruling puts pressure on President George W Bush, who has been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon Cheney's former chief of staff.
Libby was convicted in March of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Her husband is an outspoken Iraq war critic.
p>Libby is the highest-ranking White House official ordered to prison since the Iran-Contra arms scandal in the 1980s.
He believed he had a good chance of overturning the conviction on appeal and asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to put the sentence on hold.
The court refused in a two-sentence ruling.
- AP
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