UN URGES SENEGAL NOT TO EXTRADITE EX-CHAD LEADER

UN human rights chief Navi Pillay urged Senegal to reconsider its decision to send Chad's former dictator Hissene Habre back to his home country to face justice for alleged atrocities. Extraditing Habre to Chad, which sentenced him to death in absentia in 2008 for the torture and killing of political opponents during the 80s, may violate international law, she said. Pillay stressed the need for guarantees that Habre would not face torture or the death penalty and would get a fair trial.
A 1992 truth commission in Chad found Habre responsible for widespread torture and the deaths of at least 40,000 people. Senegal put him under house arrest in 2005 when he was charged by the Belgian government for crimes against humanity based on cases brought by Chadians living in Belgium.