Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Hissene Habre, former leader of Chad convicted of crimes against humanity, dies at 79
Also: Convicted ex-Chadian leader Hissène Habré dies at 79
______________________________________________________________________
Source: Washington Post
Hissène Habré, former leader of Chad convicted of crimes against humanity, dies at 79
By Emily Langer
August 24, 2021 at 6:25 p.m. EDT
Hissène Habré, the former dictator of Chad whose reign of torture and political killings in the 1980s led to his conviction in 2016 on crimes against humanity, a landmark in international criminal justice, died Aug. 24 at a hospital in Dakar, Senegal, where he was serving a life sentence. He was 79.
Jean Bertrand Bocande, director of penitentiary administration, confirmed the death to the Associated Press. Local news outlets reported that Mr. Habré had recently contracted covid-19.
Chad is a landlocked Central African nation of approximately 17 million, where a dearth of natural resources, long-standing ethnic and religious tensions, and decades of repressive government have consigned its citizens to poverty, political instability and violence.
Known as “Africa’s Pinochet” — a reference to Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the brutal Chilean ruler of the 1970s and 1980s — Mr. Habré came to power in a 1982 coup and ruled for eight years. He was deposed in 1990 by Idriss Déby, who then ruled the country for three decades before his death in April from battlefield wounds sustained amid a conflict with rebels.
The son of a shepherd, Mr. Habré was educated in Paris in the years after Chad’s independence from France in 1960. He rose to power as a leader in the National Liberation Front of Chad, which formed in the 1970s to oust a series of post-colonial governments. Mr. Habré long enjoyed the support of the United States, which regarded Chad as a counterweight to its neighbor to the north, Libya, then under the rule of Col. Moammar Gaddafi.
-snip-
By Emily Langer
August 24, 2021 at 6:25 p.m. EDT
Hissène Habré, the former dictator of Chad whose reign of torture and political killings in the 1980s led to his conviction in 2016 on crimes against humanity, a landmark in international criminal justice, died Aug. 24 at a hospital in Dakar, Senegal, where he was serving a life sentence. He was 79.
Jean Bertrand Bocande, director of penitentiary administration, confirmed the death to the Associated Press. Local news outlets reported that Mr. Habré had recently contracted covid-19.
Chad is a landlocked Central African nation of approximately 17 million, where a dearth of natural resources, long-standing ethnic and religious tensions, and decades of repressive government have consigned its citizens to poverty, political instability and violence.
Known as “Africa’s Pinochet” — a reference to Gen. Augusto Pinochet, the brutal Chilean ruler of the 1970s and 1980s — Mr. Habré came to power in a 1982 coup and ruled for eight years. He was deposed in 1990 by Idriss Déby, who then ruled the country for three decades before his death in April from battlefield wounds sustained amid a conflict with rebels.
The son of a shepherd, Mr. Habré was educated in Paris in the years after Chad’s independence from France in 1960. He rose to power as a leader in the National Liberation Front of Chad, which formed in the 1970s to oust a series of post-colonial governments. Mr. Habré long enjoyed the support of the United States, which regarded Chad as a counterweight to its neighbor to the north, Libya, then under the rule of Col. Moammar Gaddafi.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/hissene-habre-dead/2021/08/24/66be0132-04d8-11ec-8c3f-3526f81b233b_story.html
Hissène Habré was president of Chad from from 1982 to 1990 (AFP)
______________________________________________________________________
Source: BBC
Convicted ex-Chadian leader Hissène Habré dies at 79
24 August 2021
Chad's ex-ruler Hissène Habré has died at the age of 79 while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.
He was being treated for a coronavirus infection, reports say.
Habré was found guilty in 2016 of crimes committed while he was president from 1982 to 1990.
The conviction was the result of a landmark trial in Senegal. It was the first time an African Union-backed court had tried a former ruler for human rights abuses.
Habré was accused of being behind rape, sexual slavery and ordering killings while in power. He denied any knowledge of the crimes.
-snip-
24 August 2021
Chad's ex-ruler Hissène Habré has died at the age of 79 while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.
He was being treated for a coronavirus infection, reports say.
Habré was found guilty in 2016 of crimes committed while he was president from 1982 to 1990.
The conviction was the result of a landmark trial in Senegal. It was the first time an African Union-backed court had tried a former ruler for human rights abuses.
Habré was accused of being behind rape, sexual slavery and ordering killings while in power. He denied any knowledge of the crimes.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-58316923
1 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
