Senegal Told to
Prosecute Ex-President of Chad (ICJ Judgment)
July 20, 2012 By
MARLISE SIMONS
PARIS — The
International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Senegal to prosecute the
former president of Chad, Hissène Habré, who has lived comfortably
for two decades in Senegal despite indictments in connection with political killings,
torture and a host of other brutalities.
The court decision,
which could affect exiled leaders in other countries, found that Senegal had
breached the 1984 Convention Against Torture by ignoring charges against
Mr. Habré. The ruling ordered the Senegalese authorities either to prosecute
him “without further delay” or to extradite him for trial elsewhere.
In Senegal, the
government sent extra security to Mr. Habré’s luxury villa on the outskirts of
Dakar, the capital, where he has lived undisturbed since he fled a rebellion at
home in 1990.
His fearsome rule,
from 1982 to 1990, has been largely forgotten in North Africa, overtaken by
other strongmen and conflicts.
If a trial does go
ahead in Senegal, it will be the
first time the president of one country is tried before in another
country’s (domestic) court on
charges of crimes committed at home,
officials said. Other heads of state
who have been prosecuted have appeared before international courts or tribunals.
Justice Minister
Aminata Touré, reached by telephone in Dakar, said Senegal would abide by the
court’s order.
He would be tried
under Senegalese law by a panel of local and African judges set up in agreement
with the African Union, an arrangement Ms. Touré called “a novelty in
international law.”
Neither Mr. Habré nor
his lawyer could be reached for comment, but his comfortable exile may be
coming to an end. Although Chad is among the world’s poorest nations, Mr. Habre
is said to have acquired a sizable fortune. The Chad Truth Commission said in
1992 that even during the final days of his rule, he stole more than $11
million from the country’s treasury and central bank.
Mr. Habré came to
power reportedly backed by covert support from the United States, during the
Reagan administration, and other Western countries that wanted a counterweight
in Chad to its troublemaking neighbor, Libya, at the time under the leadership
of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. The truth commission said Mr. Habré’s government
had killed up to 40,000 opponents and tortured many others.
A court in Chad has
sentenced him to death in absentia, and courts in Belgium and Senegal have
sentenced him for crimes against humanity, including torture, but Senegalese
politicians presented numerous obstacles to his prosecution. It was Belgium
that filed the case against Senegal at the court in The Hague, arguing that he
should either be tried in Senegal or extradited to Belgium. It denounced
Senegal for turning down four Belgian extradition requests.
Antigone, jus cogens
and the International Court of Justice
July 22, 2012
Friday’s judgment of
the International Court of Justice says:
99. In the Court’s
opinion, the prohibition of torture is part of customary international law and
it has become a peremptory norm (jus cogens).
That prohibition is
grounded in a widespread international practice and on the opinio juris of
States. It appears in numerous international instruments of universal
application (in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948,
the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the protection of war victims; the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966; General Assembly
resolution 3452/30 of 9 December 1975 on the Protection of All Persons from
Being Subjected to Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment), and it has been introduced into the domestic law of almost all
States; finally, acts of torture are regularly denounced within national and
international fora.
