Former president of Chad Hissene Habre sentenced to life for war crimes
Families of tortured victims embraced and cheered inside a courtroom in Senegal on May 30 2016 as Hissne Habr the former president of Chad was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity including kidnapping torture rape sexual slavery and ordered killings.It was the first time an African Union-backed court had tried a former ruler for human-rights abuses.The Habr case became a pivotal door-opening moment in the fight to bring more of the continents war criminals to justice.Habr seized power from Goukouni Oueddei in 1982.Chad was at war with Libya over the Aozou Strip a giant slice of the Sahara desert on the two countries shared border and the distraction provided Habr with the opportunity to attempt a coup which was believed to have CIA and French backing.Once in power his cruelty became apparent and his secret police the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS) became known for their violence.
People walked the streets in constant fear as they saw family and friends hauled off to torture chambers.Any ethnic group seen as being opposed to Habr was targeted and its members tortured.It is said that 40000 were murdered and 200000 were tortured in Chad while Habr was in power.Witnesses said victims endured electric shocks suffocation cigarette burns and having gas squirted into their eyes.Some said the torturers would place a running vehicles exhaust pipe into their victims mouths.
Others said they had been suspended by their hands or feet and had their hands and feet bound together.In some more extreme cases of torture some victims had their heads crushed between two wooden boards and were placed in rooms with decomposing bodies.Habrs reign of terror was brought to an end when he was ousted in 1990.After his fall the path to justice was arduous and thorny as the barbarous dictator fled to Senegal.
When victims pushed for a trial the Senegalese court refused claiming it did not have the jurisdiction.His victims looking for any way to due process turned to Belgium for help trying Habr.At the time Belgium had a universal jurisdiction law that allowed prosecution of the worst atrocities in any country according to Human Rights Watch an abuse watchdog group.
Also several of the plaintiffs were Belgian.After a four-year investigation and many years after the crimes a Belgian judge issued an international warrant for his arrest.Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade changed his position several times on whether to try Habr.In 2011 Wade finally reached a decision Habr would be sent to Chad for a trial.
However fearing the former dictator would face torture if returned to the place hed terrorized for eight long years the United Nations intervened.In July 2012 the International Court of Justice ordered Senegal to either put Habr on trial or extradite him to Belgium.A month later Senegal and the African Union signed a deal to set up a special court for the trial.The Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) was created to handle the trial and it finally got underway in 2015.
More than 100 witnesses including 69 victims and 10 experts took the stand to testify against Habr.On May 30 after a 17-year battle Habr was found guilty and sentenced to life.Although an appeal was filed on his behalf it was denied.
Habr would serve a life sentence and officials established a 136 million trust fund for the victims who had fought for years to bring him to justice.This will be a lesson to other dictators in Africa Yamasoum Konar a representative of one of the victims groups told the BBC.
