Reed Brody, HRW
“If you kill one person, you go to jail. If you kill 40 people, they put you in an insane asylum. But if you kill 40, 000 people, you get a comfortable exile with a bank account in another country, and that’s what we want to change here,”
Reed Brody, Human Rights Watch
Leave a Comment » | 
Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Chad, deby, dictator, Dictator Hunter, Habre, Hisseine Habre, hissene habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, Souleymane Guengueng, tyrant | 
Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
Masses of information from the media constantly bombard us yet, paradoxically, often the most important goes uncovered. Take for instance, Africa. A country like Sudan suddenly comes under the spotlight. Reports of rape, massacre and corruption in the Darfur region reinforce all the stereotypes about the “dark continent” of savage aliens. And then, just as quickly, Sudan will fall from view.
Masses of information from the media constantly bombard us yet, paradoxically, often the most important goes uncovered. Take for instance, Africa. A country like Sudan suddenly comes under the spotlight. Reports of rape, massacre and corruption in the Darfur region reinforce all the stereotypes about the “dark continent” of savage aliens. And then, just as quickly, Sudan will fall from view. However, while thousands of refugees from the Darfur conflict have fled to Chad, just to the west of Sudan, this country remains largely off the British and American media map.
And so one of the most remarkable contemporary human rights campaigns goes largely unreported in the UK as the Belgium courts seek to try the former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré for crimes of genocide during his rule from 1982 to 1990 – even in the face of the Belgium Parliament’s decision to repeal its landmark “universal human rights jurisdiction” statute. Following threats from the United States in June 2003 that Belgium risked losing its status as host to NATO’s headquarters, the 1993 historic law, which allowed victims to file complaints in Belgium for atrocities committed abroad, was repealed. Yet a new law, adopted in August 2003, allowed for the continuation of the case against Habré – much to the delight of human rights campaigners. And finally last month, Senegal, where Habré has been under house arrest, arrested the former dictator to face an extradition request from Belgium over the genocide charges.
Formerly part of French Equatorial Africa, Chad gained its independence in 1960 and since then has been gripped by civil war. In a rare instance of coverage on 21 May 1992, the London-based Guardian carried four short paragraphs reporting how 40,000 people were estimated to have died in detention or been executed during the tyranny of Habré. A justice ministry report concluded that Habré had committed genocide against the Chadian people. Five years ago, in a case inspired by the one against Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet, several human rights organisations, led by Human Rights Watch, filed a suit against Habré in Senegal (his refuge since 1990). They argued that he could be tried anywhere for crimes against humanity and that former heads of state were not immune. However, on 21 March 2001, the Senegal Court of Cassation threw out the case. And so, human rights campaigners turned their attention to Belgium where one of the victims of Habré’s torture now lives. Extraordinary events, but all of them hidden behind a virtual wall of silence in the West.
Yet also hidden is the massive, secret war waged by the United States and Britain from bases in Chad against Libya. British involvement in a 1996 plot to assassinate the Libyan leader, Colonel Mu’ammar Gadafi, as alleged by the maverick M15 officer David Shayler, was reported as an isolated event. Yet it is best seen as part of a wide-ranging and longstanding strategy of the US and UK secret states to remove Gadafi. Grabbing power by ousting King Idris in a 1969 coup, Gadafi (who, intriguingly, had followed a military training course in England in 1966) soon became the target of covert operations by the French, Americans, Israelis and British. Stephen Dorril, in his seminal history of M16, records how in 1971 a British plan to invade the country, release political prisoners and restore the monarchy ended in an embarrassing flop. Nine years later, the head of the French secret service, Alain de Gaigneronde de Marolles, resigned after a French-led plan ended in disaster when a rebellion by Libyan troops in Tobruk was quickly suppressed. Then, in 1982, away from the glare of the media, Habré, with the backing of the CIA and French troops, overthrew the Chadian government of Goukouni Wedeye. Bob Woodward (of Watergate fame), in his semi-official history of the CIA, reveals that the Chad covert operation was the first undertaken by the new CIA chief William Casey and that, throughout the decade, Libya ranked as high as the Soviet Union as the bête noir of the White House.
A report from Amnesty International, Chad: The Habré Legacy, records massive military and financial support for the dictator by the US Congress. It adds: “None of the documents presented to Congress and consulted by AI covering the period 1984 to 1989 make any reference to human rights violations.” US official records indicate that funds for the Chad-based covert war against Libya also came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Israel and Iraq. The Saudis, for instance, gave $7million to an opposition group, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya (also backed by French intelligence and the CIA). However, a plan to assassinate Gadafi and seize power on 8 May 1984 was crushed. In the following year, the US asked Egypt to invade Libya and overthrow Gadafi but President Mubarak refused. By the end of 1985, the Washington Post had exposed the plan after congressional leaders opposing it wrote in protest to President Reagan. Frustrated in its covert attempts to topple Gadafi, the US government’s strategy suddenly shifted. For 11 minutes in the early morning of 14 April 1986, 30 US air force and navy bombers struck Tripoli and Benghazi in a raid code-named El Dorado Canyon. The US/UK mainstream media were ecstatic. Yet the main purpose of the raid was to kill the Libyan president – dubbed a “mad dog” by Reagan. In the event, the first bomb to drop on Tripoli hit Gadafi’s home killing Hana, his adopted daughter aged 15 months – while his eight other children and wife Safiya were all hospitalised, some with serious injuries. The president escaped. Reports of US military action against Libya disappeared from the media after the 1986 assault. But away from the glare of publicity, the CIA launched its most extensive effort yet to spark an anti-Gadafi coup. A secret army was recruited from among the many Libyans captured in border battles with Chad during the 1980s. And as concerns grew in M16 that Gadafi was aiming to develop chemical weapons, Britain funded various opposition groups in Libya. Then in 1990, with the crisis in the Gulf developing, French troops helped oust Habré in a secret operation and install Idriss Déby as the new President of Chad. The French government had tired of Habré’s genocidal policies while George Bush senior’s administration decided not to frustrate France in exchange for co-operation in its attack on Iraq. Yet, even under Déby, abuses of civil rights by government forces have continued.
Recently, relations between the US, UK and Libya have thawed, with Gadafi pledging support for the “war against terrorism” and agreeing to pay compensation to the victims of the 1988 Flight 103 Lockerbie bombing, for which a Libyan intelligence agent was jailed. But significantly, at his trial in November 2003, David Shayler was denied the right (under the European Convention of Human Rights) to speak out about the 1996 anti-Gadafi plot. Since it is obvious there are a lot of shady secrets from the years of the dirty war to conceal, such a decision by the court must have come as a relief to the government. And a report in the Guardian of 15 March 2004 said US troops were arriving in several African countries, including Chad, as the Pentagon warned that the region ran the risk of becoming an al-Qaeda recruiting ground. Giles Tremlett reported (“US sends special forces into North Africa”): “…US navy P-3 Orion aircraft guided Chad troops during a two-day battle on the border with Niger last week in which 43 suspected members of Algeria’s Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat were killed.” Oil reserves in North and West Africa are drawing increasing attention from the US. West Africa supplies the US with 15 per cent of its oil while the US National Intelligence Council has projected the figure will grow to 25 per cent by 2015.
___
Richard Keeble. February 2006
Richard Keeble is Professor of Journalism at Lincoln University. His publications include Secret State, Silent Press (John Libbey; 1997), a study of the US/UK press coverage of the 1991 Gulf conflict. This excerpt is taken from his blog on Media Lens.
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Chad, dictator, Habre, Hisseine Habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
Bring this P.O.S. to justice! Senegal must prosecute the S.O.B. or hand him to the international justice! It’s as simple as that. We’re never gonna give up! We’ll keep fighting to see justice done for the thousands of victims. I, for one, won’t quit. I owe it to my 9 years younger brother murdered by Habre’s soldiers in Deli. I owe it to my dad’s two brothers who were abducted and murdered during Habre’s iron fist rule. I owe my dad’s 15 colleagues cold bloodily shot and killed on a September morning in Deli. I owe it to the more than hundred people killed in Deli that day. I owe it to all the victims of Black September in Southern Chad, to the victims of the pogrom against the Hadjerai, the massacres of the Zaghawa, Arabs,… Yes, we owe it to ALL the victims of Habre and Deby’s dictatorships and to future generations to prevent something of this magnitude from happening again. It’s our moral obligation. It’s our duty!
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Chad, deby, dictator, Habre, Hisseine Habre, hissene habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
Senegal has an obligation to put Hissene Habre on trial for his crimes committed against the Chadian people between 1982-1990. If Senegal doesn’t want to stand with the victims of that monster, Senegal must hand him to countries like Belgium that offer to prosecute him. I hope the legendary Senegalese “Teranga” ( hospitality) doesn’t mean giving a safe haven to criminals, mass murderers and torturers, genocide perpetrators like Hissene Habre. Bring Bring Hissene Habre to Justice! That’s all the survivors of Habre’s gulags, the thousands of orphans, widows, widowers, …the families of the victims have been asking for for more than two decades.
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Chad, deby, dictator, Habre, Hisseine Habre, hissene habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
Jacqueline Moudeina, a leader in the fight to bring former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré to justice receives Right Livelihood Award
Jacqueline Moudeina is president of the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (ATPDH) and has been the lawyer for the victims of the former dictator Hissène Habré since 2000. In 2001, Ms. Moudeina was seriously injured by a grenade thrown by security forces commanded by a former officer in Hissène Habré’s political police.
On December 5, 2011, Ms. Moudeina received the Right Livelihood Award 2011, which is considered to be the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” “for her tireless efforts at great personal risk to win justice for the victims of the former dictatorship in Chad and to increase awareness and observance of human rights in Africa” (http://www.rightlivelihood.org [4]).
This is her acceptance speech delivered at the Swedish parliament in Stockholm on December 5, 2011.
*****
Jacqueline Moudeina’s Remarks for the “Right Livelihood Award”
Honorable Ladies and Gentlemen,
Allow me to begin by sincerely thanking you for the distinguished honor that you are bestowing upon me through the “Right Livelihood Award.” This award recognizes me specifically but, beyond that, rewards all the human rights defenders in the world, and particularly in Africa.
Rest assured that it is a deeply encouraging sign for us, the human rights defenders, and especially for us, the women, who fight on a daily basis, in very difficult conditions, sometimes at the risk of our own lives, in a world where power is generally held by men. This award gives us the courage to continue our different struggles on a road fraught with pitfalls.
Fighting for victims is in my genes. I am a rebel who from an early age has been indignant in the face of abuse, and I cannot bear injustice. I have always felt this way and always will, as long as those who suffer injustice are ignored by their leaders and as long as justice is selective. Many have tried to prevent me from doing my work; many have tried to intimidate me, to psychologically and physically threaten me. But I have come to understand, as Alexis Voinov said in Albert Camus’ The Just Assassins, that “it isnot enough to speak out against injustice. You have to dedicate your life to fighting it.” Until now, no one has managed to discourage me or get the better of me. I will continue my fight.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I will seize this occasion to tell you about one aspect of our struggle for human rights: the fight against impunity.
In the past twenty years, the international community has undeniably made major strides in the fight against impunity for the worst criminals. But in Africa, much remains to be done. On this continent, impunity is a cancer that, with its corollary disease corruption, has infected our body politic and prevents us from realizing our true potential. We, the members of civil society, are fighting against this cancer, from Tunis to Harare, from Dakar to Khartoum, and in other places like Abidjan, Tripoli, and N’Djamena.
And yet, this justice that I am speaking about is not a science in the making. It isn’t a utopia. It is the most fundamental form of justice: criminal justice that allows victims to wash away the worst horrors, that gives back dignity to men who were tortured, and that gives back courage to women who have lost hope.
You only need to look at our struggle to bring to justice the former dictator of my country, Hissène Habré, to understand that today, in the twenty-first century, more than sixty years after the Nuremberg trials, it is sometimes easier to resort to oppression than to abide by the law, easier to commit violence than to deliver justice!
Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990 until his overthrow and exile in Senegal. During his reign, atrocities were committed on a large scale, waves of ethnic cleansing crashed down on individual groups, and torture was institutionalized. In 1992, a national Commission of Inquiry estimated that his regime was responsible for the death of more than 40,000 people and the disappearance of thousands of individuals, leaving in its wake innumerable widows and orphans.
The victims of the Habré regime, whom I represent, have fought tirelessly for justice for twenty-one years. But to date their struggle remains unfinished. Before leaving power, Hissène Habré emptied out Chad’s national coffers and has skillfully used these funds in Senegal to weave himself a powerful network of protection. And so, instead of allowing the victims’ case to be heard, Senegal and the African Union have subjected them to what Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 117 organizations from twenty-five African countries rightly denounced as an “interminable political and legal soap opera.” I would say even more: a true stations of the cross for the victims.
In January 2000, we filed a complaint against Hissène Habré in Senegal where he now lives. One month later, the decision by a Senegalese judge to indict Habré gave us real hope.
However, following political inference, denounced by the United Nations, the Senegalese courts declared that they lacked jurisdiction.
The victims then turned toward Belgium which offered them a path to justice. After a four-year investigation, a Belgian judge issued an international arrest warrant against Habré in 2005. The victims once again felt real hope that they might see Hissène Habré brought to justice for his alleged crimes.
But once again, the victims were disappointed when Senegal refused to extradite Habré to Belgium.
In May 2006, the UN Committee against Torture condemned Senegal for its failure to act and enjoined Senegal to prosecute or extradite the former Chadian dictator.
In July 2006, the heads of state and government leaders of the African Union gave Senegal a mandate to prosecute Habré “in the name of Africa.” It was another step forward.
But our renewed hope to see Habré tried was short-lived. For four years, Senegal conditioned the start of investigations on the up-front payment by the international community of all the costs of the trial. When the international community committed to such payment, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal suddenly refused to execute the mandate conferred by the African Union and, in June 2011, finally declared that Senegal would not prosecute Hissène Habré.
Since then, Belgium, a country to which I express thanks on behalf of all the victims, has renewed its extradition request.
But now, the African Union now talks of sending Habré to Rwanda and starting everything all over again. What an outrage! What a loss of time, when the surviving victims are dying one after the other! More than a dozen victims have passed away this year alone. A request to transfer Habré to Rwanda would entail many more years of waiting, the time that it would take for Rwanda to create an adequate legislative framework, to conduct an investigation, and to issue an extradition request, whereas a trial in Belgium could take place quickly.
This is yet another dilatory tactic by the African Union, and calls into question the institution’s commitment to the fight against impunity. With a few exceptions, African leaders, who say that they want to free themselves of the tutelage of international tribunals and the extradition requests of Western countries, are revealing that they form nothing more than a club of heads of states ensuring their own impunity.
It is time for Senegal to grant victims the justice that they have demanded by extraditing Habré to Belgium where he can be tried. The victims cannot wait any longer. Psychologically and physically, they have suffered severe trauma that has taken a heavy toll over the years.
The Chadian government itself, last July, requested, and I quote, that the “option to extradite Habré to Belgium to face trial be given priority.” Why is President Wade denying us justice? Why is the African Union failing to listen to the victims? Why do Senegal and the African Union not support the position of Chad, the country most directly concerned by this case, which is to see Habré tried in Belgium?
I would like to seize this opportunity today to voice the victims’ plea, and to call on Senegal to extradite Habré to Belgium, to enable them at last to obtain justice.
This case isn’t just about one man, however, but rather it is about one of the most tyrannical regimes of the last century.This regime is usually identified with one man, Habré, but we have not forgotten about his accomplices, the executioners and torturers who carried out the former dictator’s orders. These ex-agents of Habré’s terrifying political police, known as the “Documentation and Security Directorate,” must also face justice before the Chadian courts and must be removed from public service. This was already one of the main recommendations of the National Commission of Inquiry in 1992.
Some of these accomplices continue to haunt us by taunting and threatening us in our daily lives. But we will not drop this fight. I myself was targeted in 2001 for my involvement in the Habré case. During a peaceful march in favor of democracy, a police squad attempted to assassinate me with a grenade. Its commander was none other than a former torturer against whom the victims had initiated a judicial procedure in Chad.
This event illustrates the educational value of a trial: how could this former torturer still believe that a dictator’s weapon is more powerful than a judge’s gavel? Despite this attempted assassination, I have never relented, and I will continue my efforts until Habré and the other executioners are brought to justice.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The challenge of our struggle, above and beyond the trial of one individual, is that of national union for a lasting peace in my country. Today, the trial of Hissène Habré and his accomplices would allow the Chadian people to begin, at last, the reconstruction of their country. And it is only at the end of this process that the Chadian people will be able to truly come together and enjoy a rebirth.
In the struggle to end the impunity of some powerful leaders, justice has so far been an elusive dream. But this award which you bestow on me today is a tribute to the thousands of victims, widows, and orphans.
And it is to these individuals that I dedicate this award. We will not give up.This award reaffirms that we are right and encourages us to continue our fight against impunity.
Thank you for your attention.
Source URL: http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/06/impunity-cancer-prevents-us-realizing-our-true-potential
Links:
[1] http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/06/impunity-cancer-prevents-us-realizing-our-true-potential
[2] http://twitter.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrw.org%2Fnews%2F2011%2F12%2F06%2Fimpunity-cancer-prevents-us-realizing-our-true-potential&count=horizontal&via=&text=%E2%80%9CImpunity%20is%20a%20cancer%20that%20prevents%20us%20from%20realizing%20our%20true%20potential%E2%80%9D&counturl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrw.org%2Fnews%2F2011%2F12%2F06%2Fimpunity-cancer-prevents-us-realizing-our-true-potential
[3] http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hrw.org%2Fnews%2F2011%2F12%2F06%2Fimpunity-cancer-prevents-us-realizing-our-true-potential&layout=button_count&show_faces=false&action=recommend&colorscheme=light&width=100&height=21&font=&locale=
[4] http://www.rightlivelihood.org
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Belgium, Chad, deby, dictator, Dictator Hunter, Habre, Hisseine Habre, hissene habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Jacqueline Moudeina, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, Senegal, Souleymane Guengueng, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
Torture Panel Tells Senegal to Prosecute or Extradite Habré
(Geneva) – The United Nations Committee against Torture (“the Committee”) has called on Senegal to comply with its obligation to prosecute or extradite Chad’s exiled former dictator, Hissène Habré, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Committee’s action came after Senegal announced that it would not prosecute Habré in Senegal, and Belgium introduced a new extradition request to try Habré.
“The UN has stood up for Habre’s thousands of victims who have been seeking justice from Senegal for 21 years,” said Reed Brody, counsel with Human Rights Watch, who represents the victims before the Committee. “Since Senegal refuses to prosecute Habré, it needs to extradite him to Belgium right away.”
Habré is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture when he ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, before fleeing to Senegal. The government of Senegal over the years has refused, then agreed under pressure, and finally refused again to prosecute him.
The Committee consists of 10 experts elected by the 149 states that have ratified the UN Convention against Torture. In 2006, following a petition by Habré’s victims, the Committee found Senegal in breach of its legal duty to bring Habré to justice. In a letter to Senegal’s permanent representative in Geneva dated November 24, 2011,the Committee’s rapporteur, Fernando Mariño, recalled its 2006 decision and said that if Senegal was not going to prosecute Habré, it must, under the convention, extradite him to Belgium or another country that will prosecute him.
In the letter, the UN rapporteur noted that Senegal had failed to institute action against Habré and said that “the Committee wishes therefore to remind [Senegal] of its obligation under the Convention against Torture, to submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution or failing that, since Belgium has made an extradition request, to comply with that request,” or another extradition request made pursuant to the convention.
In July 2010, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 117 groups from 25 African countries denounced the “interminable political and legal soap opera” to which Habré’s victims had been subjected over 20 years.
Habré was first indicted in Senegal in 2000, but following political interference, the country’s courts said that he could not be tried there. His victims then filed a case in Belgium. After years of investigation, in September 2005, a Belgian judge requested his extradition. Senegal asked the African Union (AU) to recommend a course of action, and in July 2006, the AU called on Senegal to prosecute Habré “on behalf of Africa.” Years of stalling ensued, however, even after international donors fully funded the US$11.9 million trial budget in November 2010.
In May, Senegal walked out of talks with the AU over the trial and made clear that it would not prosecute Habré in Senegal. On July 10, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal reversed a decision announced two days earlier to expel Habré to Chad, where he has been sentenced to death in absentia.
Belgium then made a new extradition request, which is pending. On July 22, the government of Chad announced that it was in favor of extraditing Habré to Belgium. Although Rwanda recently announced that it was also willing to try Habré in its courts, Human Rights Watch and Habré’s victims believe that this option would lead to many more years of delay before the trial could be held.
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Chad, deby, Hisseine Habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, Souleymane Guengueng, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
Hissène Habré Case: A Real Solution Or More Dilatory Tactics?
The victims of the former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré have been fighting for more than 20 years to bring him to justice in a fair trial so that he can answer for the crimes committed by his government from 1982 to 1990.
Despite our efforts, the time has come to face the fact that the justice tirelessly sought by the victims has not been forthcoming. We have been subjected since 1990 to what Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 117 groups from 25 African countries denounced in July 2010 as an “interminable political and legal soap opera.”
On July 22, 2011, the Chadian government took the responsible decision to ask Senegal to extradite Habré to Belgium, which had sought his extradition in 2005 after Senegal courts ruled that they could not try him. A new Belgian extradition request submitted in September is pending before the Senegalese courts.
Faced with Senegal’s clear and repeated lack of will to prosecute Habré, we consider that extraditing him to Belgium is the most practical and timely option to ensure that he can respond to the charges against him with all the guarantees of a fair trial. Belgium is the only country that has received and listened to the victims and that continues to offer them a path toward justice.
In Belgium, a trial could be organized quickly, which is essential given that many survivors have already died. The victims of Habré’s crimes should be able to testify about their experience and to participate actively in his trial.
A Belgian investigating judge, with the assistance of police detectives specialized in the prosecution of crimes against humanity, examined the charges for four years. The team visited Chad in 2002, interrogating Habré’s former accomplices and visiting detention centers and former mass graves. It seized and analyzed copies of thousands of documents of Habré’s political police (the “DDS”), which revealed the identity of 1,208 people who died in detention and 12,321 victims of torture or other human rights violations. This strong evidence allowed the Belgian judge to indict Habré on charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture, and allowed Belgium to request his extradition.
In addition to the time factor, Belgium offers the conditions for holding an exemplary trial:
An independent judicial system;
Respect for fair trial rights;
The capacity to investigate and try a complex case involving mass crimes committed more than 20 years ago in a foreign country, largely due to its experience in similar cases;
A civil party (partie civile) system, which allows victims to participate fully in the trial;
Use of the French language, which is spoken by the accused and most of the victims;
An environment conducive to raising public awareness around a trial that will take place far away from Chad, including freedom of expression and the ability to make video and audio recordings of the court proceedings to be transmitted in Chad; and
Free access to the trial for non-governmental organizations and journalists who can monitor proceedings and encourage public debate.
We take note of the willingness and availability of Rwanda to organize this trial, in response to an inquiry by the African Union. The offer brings honor to Rwanda, which has also suffered from atrocities committed on its territory and which therefore understands the stakes and the need for justice for the victims to foster national reconciliation.
However, we wonder whether this option, put forward by the AU, is yet another dilatory tactic which calls into question its efforts to see Habré tried according to the strict dictates of the law. The law offers a clear response to Senegal’s refusal, for more than five years, to discharge the mandate of the African Union: the extradition of Habré to Belgium.
Moreover, we are particularly concerned that additional years might be needed for Rwanda to enact a legal framework allowing its courts to prosecute crimes that have no direct link to the country, to secure financing for the trial, to restart a complex transnational investigation, and to request Habré’s extradition. Many more survivors would be likely to die during those years.
We both understand and share the desire to see Habré tried in Africa. More than anyone, we have relentlessly attempted to bring about such a trial for years. We filed a complaint against Habré in Senegal in 2000. We presented to Senegalese judicial authorities hundreds of witness statements gathered in Chad and an analysis of the thousands of documents uncovered at the DDS headquarters that reveal in detail the scope of the crimes committed. And, between 2007 and 2010, we mobilized the international community to finance Habré’s trial in Senegal.
Today the most realistic option to avoid impunity for the mass crimes allegedly committed by Hissène Habré, and the option supported by Chad, is to extradite him for trial to Belgium. We call on the international community, and in particular the African Union, to support this option so that the victims can finally obtain justice.
The Steering Committee:
The Association of Victims of the Crimes of Hissène Habré (AVCRHH)
The Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (ATPDH)
The African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights (RADDHO)
Human Rights Watch
The International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH)
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Chad, dictator, Dictator Hunter, Hisseine Habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, Souleymane Guengueng, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
Jacqueline Moudeïna, Lawyer for Habré’s Victims, Gets ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’
(New York) – The decision to give the Right Livelihood Award to Jacqueline Moudeïna, the lawyer for the victims of the exiled former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré, highlights the victims’ 20-year quest to bring Habré to justice, Human Rights Watch said today.
The award, announced on September 29, 2011, in Stockholm, cited Moudeïna, “for her tireless efforts at great personal risk to win justice for the victims of the former dictatorship in Chad and to increase awareness and observance of human rights in Africa.” The award, presented annually in the Swedish parliament, is widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” It is the first time that a Right Livelihood Award goes to a Chadian. The other three laureates in 2011 are Huang Ming (China), Ina May Gaskin (USA) and the international organization GRAIN.
“Jacky Moudeïna has risked everything, including her life, to bring Hissène Habré to justice,” said Reed Brody, counsel and spokesperson for Human Rights Watch. “This award shines a spotlight on Senegal’s refusal, after 20 long years, to give Habré’s victims their day in court.”
In July 2010, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and 117 groups from 25 African countries denounced the “interminable political and legal soap opera” to which Habré’s victims had been subjected over 20 years.
Habré ruled Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990 by the current president, Idriss Déby Itno, and fled to Senegal. Habré’s one-party rule was marked by widespread atrocities, including waves of ethnic violence. Files of Habré’s political police, the DDS, which were discoveredby Human Rights Watch, reveal the names of 1,208 people who were killed or died in detention and 12,321 victims of human rights violations.
Habré was first indicted in Senegal in 2000, but its courts ruled that he could not be tried there. His victims then filed a case in Belgium. After years of investigation, a Belgian judge in September 2005 issued an international arrest warrant against Habré, and Belgium requested his extradition. Senegal asked the African Union to recommend a course of action and in July 2006, the African Union called on Senegal to prosecute Habré “on behalf of Africa.” Years of stalling ensued, however, even after international donors fully funded the US$11.9 million trial budget in November 2010.
In May 2011, Senegal walked out of talks with the AU over the trial and made clear that it would not prosecute Habré in Senegal. On July 10, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal reversed a decision announced two days earlier to expel Habré to Chad, where he has been sentenced to death in absentia. Belgium made a second extradition request, which is pending.
In addition to the cases against Habré, Moudeïna took an enormous personal risk by filing criminal complaints in Chad itself against a number of Habré’s accomplices, including the heads of the DDS, many of whom are still in positions of power in Chad. In June 2001, a security squad, led by Mahamat Wakayé, one of the men she is suing, threw a grenade at her while she was participating in a peaceful demonstration in N’Djaména, the Chadian capital. Moudeïna was severely injured from the shrapnel and still walks with difficulty ten years later.
“Jacky Moudeïna’s work is a direct challenge to the continuing power of those who terrorized Chad in the Habré years,” Brody said. “Her determination to stand up for torture victims at great personal sacrifice is a shining example to us all.”
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, African Pinochet, Chad, deby, dictator, Dictator Hunter, hissene habre, ICC, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
African Union, Which Sought Senegal Trial 4 Years Ago, Should Take Action
(Dakar) – The Nobel Peace Prize winners Bishop Desmond Tutu and Shirin Ebadi, as well as 117 African human rights groups from 25 countries, called today for the government of Senegal and the African Union to move forward with the trial of Hissène Habré. The exiled former dictator of Chad is accused of thousands of political killings and systematic torture.
African heads of state will come together in Kampala from July 25 to 27, 2010, for an AU summit, four years after the AU mandated Senegal “to prosecute and ensure that Hissène Habré is tried, on behalf of Africa.” Senegal has not yet begun proceedings against Habré, however, claiming that it is still waiting for international funding.
“The victims of Mr. Habré’s regime have been working tirelessly for 20 years to bring him to justice, and many of the survivors have already died,” says a petition to Senegal and the AU signed by the groups, the Nobel winners, and other prominent figures. “Instead of justice, the victims have been treated to an interminable political and legal soap opera.”
Habré ruled Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990 by President Idriss Déby Itno and fled to Senegal. His one-party regime was marked by widespread atrocities, including waves of ethnic campaigns. Files of Habré’s political police reveal the names of 1,208 people who were killed or died in detention. A total of 12,321 victims of human rights violations were mentioned in the files.
Habré was first indicted in Senegal in 2000, but after political interference denounced by two United Nations rapporteurs, Senegalese courts said they had no jurisdiction to try the case. His victims then turned to Belgium and, after a four-year investigation, a Belgian judge charged Habré in September 2005 with crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture. After Senegal rejected a Belgian extradition request, President Abdoulaye Wade accepted an AU request to put Habré on trial in Senegal.
On July 1, after years of discussions on the budget, the AU and the European Union announced that a donors’ meeting had been set for sometime in October. Agreement has not been reached yet on the final budget, however.
Among the signatories of the petition are Richard Goldstone of South Africa, the first prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and head of the Gaza fact-finding commission, as well as the leading human rights organizations in Chad and Senegal, the Foundation for Human Rights of South Africa, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, the Kenya Human Rights Commission, and the Association Africaine pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme (DRC).
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, Chad, dictator, Habre, Idriss Deby, impunity, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Reed Brody, Rome Statute, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
by BBC
Wednesday, 09 April 2008
Senegal’s national assembly has amended the country’s constitution to allow the trial of Chad ex-leader Hissene Habre.
Mr Habre, dubbed “Africa’s Pinochet”, is accused of human rights abuses during his eight years in power.
He has been living in exile in Senegal’s capital under nominal house arrest since fleeing Chad in 1990.
There have been a number of international efforts to bring him to justice, but Senegal has always refused to accept any extradition requests.
In 2006, the African Union (AU) asked for him to be prosecuted in Senegal.
However, an earlier Senegalese court ruling said that it did not have jurisdiction to try Mr Habre on war crimes charges.
The BBC’s Tidiane Sy in the capital, Dakar, says now that the constitution has been changed, it clears the way for the case to proceed.
The only obstacle could be lack of funds, he says, although last year France pledged to assist Senegal financially and technically to bring Mr Habre to trial.
Mr Habre was deposed in an uprising led by the current President, Idriss Deby, and denies knowledge of the alleged murder and torture of political opponents.
A commission of inquiry said his government was responsible for some 40,000 politically motivated murders and 200,000 cases of torture.
Story from BBC NEWS
Leave a Comment » | Blogroll, Uncategorized | Tagged: african despot, Chad, dictator, hissene habre, tyrant | Permalink
Posted by bringhissenehabre2justice
You are currently browsing the archives for the Blogroll category.
 | lancelot on Death threats against me… |
 | Ram on ONU – Le Conseil de sécu… |
 | nazli on U.N. wants Senegal to extradit… |
 | Jamila hassan on You are messing with the wrong… |
| Ramadji on Death threats against me… |
|
