SENEGAL/FILE: Chad's former President Hissene Habre is to be charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture at a special court in Senegal, a legal official says one day after the ex-leader's arrest

Record ID: 493653

  • Title: SENEGAL/FILE: Chad's former President Hissene Habre is to be charged with war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture at a special court in Senegal, a legal official says one day after the ex-leader's arrest
  • Date: 2nd July 2013
  • Summary: N'DJAMENA, CHAD (FILE-DECEMBER 1989) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS)) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF HABRE BEING INAUGURATED AND THE AUDIENCE CLAPPING (SOUNDBITE) (French) FORMER PRESIDENT OF CHAD, HISSENE HABRE, SAYING: "A nation reassembled and united. Free and democratic. Mobilised and convinced of the means of splendour and power and its brilliance." VARIOUS OF HABRE LEAVING INAUGURATION AND WAVING TO THE CROWD N'DJAMENA, CHAD (FILE -JULY 17, 2011) (REUTERS) MAN WHO SPENT 18 MONTHS IN PRISON UNDER FORMER CHADIAN LEADER, HISSENE HABRE BEING HELPED INTO THE ROOM VARIOUS OF AREA IN THE CITY WHERE PEOPLE WERE BURIED DURING HABRE'S RULE (TODAY LIVED ON BY RESIDENTS).
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Chad
  • Country: Chad
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA6WWCZBUNWLKHF7AL5JR8NQQ99
  • Story Text: Chad's ex-leader Hissene Habre, who led the country between 1982 and 1990, on Tuesday (July 2) was brought before a court in the Senegalese capital Dakar to face charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of torture.
    Habre, 71, was detained in Senegal where he has been living in exile for 22 years since he was overthrown in a coup, prompting many questions as to why the country has waited this long to prosecute him.

    "For 23 years we've got used to being told Habre is innocent. This trial should have happened then, at the very beginning, in the first months when Habre was being accused. That's when it should have happened, and we would have been done with this, bouncing back and forth like this," said pensioner Ibrahima Mbodj.
    Human rights groups hold him responsible for the torture or killing of up to 40,000 people during the eight years he led Chad, a poor, oil-rich central African state.
    Senegal, under pressure from the International Court of Justice and campaign groups, set up a special court this year to look into the allegations.

    "After a comprehensive study of the issue, we have retained three charges namely crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of torture," the court's attorney general, Mbacke Fall, told journalists.
    Fall said the crimes were alleged to have taken place during Habre's rule, especially during a conflict with neighbouring Libya.
    He said widespread systematic attacks had been ordered against civilian populations, followed by torture, detention and summary executions.
    But Habre's lawyer, El Hadj Diouf, said he would fight the charges and prove the former president's innocence.

    "Everything that the attorney general said today, I swear to you, is false, it's a web of lies. He wanted to violate the sacred status of the inquiry thinking that we were not going to act, but he's wrong. I'm here to offer the rebuttal, eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth," Diouf told journalists on Monday.
    Habre was arrested on Sunday (June 30) in Senegal, where he has been living in freely in exile for 22 years despite accusations of political killing and torture during his time in power, a court spokesman said.
    Habre will be tried in a special court set up this year by Senegalese authorities in agreement with the African Union.
    The case against Habre follows years of procrastinating by Senegal under former president Abdoulaye Wade. It will be first time the former leader of one African state has been tried by another.
    Local media published photos of Habre, in traditional white flowing robes, being led away by security forces from his mansion in the capital, Dakar.
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