The Case Against Hissène Habré, an "African Pinochet"

Human Rights Watch has been working since 1999 with the victims of Chad's exiled former president, Hissène Habré, to bring him to trial.

In July 2006, at the request of the African Union, the president of Senegal, where Mr. Habré lives in exile, agreed to prosecute Mr. Habré.

Mr. Habré was first indicted in Senegal in 2000 before courts ruled that he could not be tried there. His victims then turned to Belgium and, after a four-year investigation, a Belgian judge in September 2005 issued an international arrest warrant charging Mr. Habré with crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture committed during his 1982-90 rule. Pursuant to a Belgian extradition request, Senegalese authorities arrested Mr. Habré in November 2005. When a Senegalese court refused to rule on the extradition request, the Senegalese government announced that it had asked the African Union to recommend "the competent jurisdiction" for Mr. Habré’s trial. On July 2, 2006, the African Union, following the recommendation of a Committee of Eminent African Jurists, called on Senegal to prosecute Hissène Habré “in the name of Africa,” and President Abdoulaye Wade declared that Senegal would do so.

Hissène Habré, ex-dictator of Chad, after his indictment in Senegal in 2000. (Photo Doudou Sall)


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Chronology of the Habré Case A timeline of the process of bringing Hissène Habré to justice, 1990-2007




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