Ex-Chad Leader's Security Chiefs Jailed for Life
Seven of former Chadian leader Hissene Habre’s security chiefs were jailed for life Wednesday for torture and murder by a special court in the capital N’Djamena.
They included the ex-head of the political police Saleh Younous and Mahamat Djibrine, who investigators said was one of the “most feared torturers” under Habre’s eight-year dictatorship.
Three other former aides of the ex-president – who was overthrown in 1990 – were also sentenced to 20 years.
They were among 28 people accused in the first trial held inside Chad arising from the so-called “black years” when thousands of people were tortured, killed or disappeared in the vast sub-Saharan country. Habre, 72, has already been sentenced to death in his absence by a court in Chad for crimes against humanity.
He now awaits trial for war crimes and torture by a special court formed under an agreement between the African Union and Senegal, where the former strongman has been living in exile for more than 20 years.
