This archive report was first published on 24 August 2021.
Senegalese Justice Minister Malick Sall announced the death of former Chadian president Hissene Habre on Tuesday, August 24, 2021. Habre was 79 years old.
Habre seized power in Chad in 1982 and fled to Senegal in 1990 after being overthrown. He was later jailed in Senegal's capital Dakar in 2016 following an African Union-backed trial over abuses committed during his rule.
According to estimates, some 40,000 people were killed under Habre's leadership of Chad. His supporters continued to lobby for his freedom while he was in prison, and he was released on a two-month furlough last year to protect him from the coronavirus.
Reed Brody, a lawyer representing Habre's victims, stated that there had been calls for the former leader to be vaccinated against the virus. Brody also described Habre as 'one of the world's most pitiless dictators, a man who slaughtered his own people to seize and maintain power.'
