Ex-Chad dictator's conviction for crimes against humanity upheld by Dakar court

An African court has rejected Hissène Habré’s appeal against his conviction for crimes against humanity, which followed a decades-long fight for justice for his victims. The former president of Chad was acquitted of a rape charge, but all the other charges against him – including torture and murder – were upheld. Last year, Habré was sentenced to life in prison in Dakar, Senegal, for ordering the wrongful arrest, torture and killing of Chadian citizens throughout his tenure as president in the 1980s. He was made to listen in court as 90 witnesses testified that he had thrown thousands of people into secret jails, where they had been tortured, executed or forced to endure horrific prison conditions. Chad dictator Hissène Habré appeals against war crimes conviction Read more “I have been fighting for this day since I walked out of prison more than 26 years ago. Today, I finally feel free,” said Souleymane Guengueng, who almost died in one of Habré’s jails and swore he would fight for justice if he ever got out. He did, and spent years collecting files full of victims’ testimonies. Some of the trial’s most powerful testimony came from Khadidja Zidane, who accused Habré of raping her four times and whom his website described as a “crazy whore”. In an interview with the Guardian last year, Zidane said she would never be satisfied while Habré lived in a comfortable prison cell, but added: “At least I was able to face him. If I die today, I’ll die in peace. I had the opportunity to tell the whole world what he did to me. Thank Allah for that. He’ll pay in the afterlife for what he did.” Although Ougadeye Wafi, the Malian judge who read out the verdict, said the court believed Zidane’s account and found her a credible witness, he said he could not uphold the rape conviction as it was not on the original indictment. However, it makes no difference to the sentence.