Chad’s ex-ruler Hissène Habré has died at the age of 79 while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.  He was being treated for a coronavirus infection, reports say. Habré was found guilty in 2016 of crimes committed while he was president from 1982 to 1990. The conviction was the result of a landmark trial in Senegal. It was the first time an African Union-backed court had tried a former ruler for human rights abuses.

Habré was accused of being behind rape, sexual slavery and ordering killings while in power. He denied any knowledge of the crimes. A commission of inquiry formed in Chad after he was deposed in 1990 said his government carried out some 40,000 politically motivated murders and 200,000 cases of torture in the eight years he was in power.(BBC)…[+]