Notorious former Chad dictator Hissene Habre convicted of torture, rape, sexual slavery and war crimes in Senegal
Witnesses told court about electric shocks, cigarette burns and bodies rotting in cells inside infamous regime prisons
A NOTORIOUS former African dictator has been found guilty of torture, rape, sexual slavery and war crimes.
Hissene Habre, 73, who ruled Chad with an iron fist from 1982 to 1990, was convicted of a string of offences at a landmark trial in Senegal.
The despot organised the torture of tens of thousands of political prisoners during his tyrannical reign, with an estimated 40,000 thought to have been killed by his feared secret police.
Witnesses told the court in Dakar how they were tormented with electric shocks and cigarette burns while imprisoned in his notorious jails – one of the most infamous of which was a converted swimming pool.
Survivor Souleymane Guengueng, who was in jail for two-and-a-half years, said: “I saw my friends and fellow inmates die from hunger, die from despair, die from torture and die from sickness.”
Some described having gas squirted in their eyes, being suffocated, beaten and dunked in waste, with bodies being left to rot in their cells.
One favourite technique was the “torture by sticks”, when the victim's head was put between sticks that were joined together by a rope which was then twisted.
One witness even testified to having been personally raped four times by the brutal dictator – showing incredible courage in waiving her right to give evidence privately as she took the stand.
The courtroom erupted with cheers as the verdict was announced, with the victims and families of those murdered hugging each other in jubilant scenes.
Meanwhile Habre – nicknamed ‘Africa’s Pinochet’ after the tyrannical Chilean ruler – remained defiant even as he was sentenced to life in prison.
He raised his arms and shouted anti-French colonial slogans as he was led away by burly guards.
Victims’ group representative Yamasoum Konar told the : “This is a historic day for Chad and for Africa. It is the first time that an African head of state has been found guilty in another African country.”
Habre was ousted from power by the current President of Chad, Idriss Deby, in 1990, going into exile in nearby Senegal.
In 2005 a Belgian court issued a warrant for his arrest, but Senegal arrested him in 2013 after the African Union asked the country to put him on trial there on behalf of the entire continent.
The former despot’s lawyers now have 15 days to appeal against his conviction.
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