Chad’s ex-ruler Hissene Habre has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison at his war crimes trial in Senegal.
The judge also convicted him of rape, sexual slavery and ordering killings.
It was the first time an African Union-backed court has tried a former ruler for human rights abuses.
The prosecutor at the court in Senegal’s capital Dakar requested a life sentence for Habre, who refused to recognise its legitimacy.
The ex-president denied accusations that he ordered the killing of 40,000 people during his rule from 1982 to 1990.
Mr Habre frequently disrupted proceedings during his trial. He shouted abuse, called the process “a farce”, and had to be carried into the court after refusing to appear.
His critics dubbed him “Africa’s Pinochet” because of the atrocities allegedly committed during his rule.
Habre was arrested in Senegal, where he was exiled, in 2013.
Many of his alleged victims campaigned for him to be tried, following his overthrow in 1990.
In 2005, a court in Belgium issued a warrant for his arrest, claiming universal jurisdiction but, after Senegal referred the issue to the African Union, the AU asked Senegal to try Mr Habre “on behalf of Africa”.
In 2013, a court in Chad sentenced him to death in absentia for crimes against humanity.
• Born in 1942 to ethnic Toubou herders in northern Chad
• Given scholarship to study political science in France
• First came to the world’s attention in 1974 when his rebels captured three European hostages to ransom for money and arms
• Seized power in 1982 allegedly with the help of the CIA ousted by current President Idriss Deby in 1990
• Accused of systematically persecuting groups he distrusted
• A former swimming pool was used as an underground prison where survivors say they were subjected to electric shocks, near-asphyxia and “supplice des baguettes”, when their heads were squeezed between sticks
BBC
