Chad’s ex-leader Hissene Habre carried into court in Senegal trial

Chad’s ex-leader Hissene Habre has been held down by masked security officers in the courtroom at the resumption of his trial for war crimes in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Mr Habre had to be forcibly brought to court having refused to attend. He disrupted proceedings, shouting at the clerk who was reading out a list […]

Chad’s ex-leader Hissene Habre has been held down by masked security officers in the courtroom at the resumption of his trial for war crimes in the Senegalese capital Dakar.
Mr Habre had to be forcibly brought to court having refused to attend.
He disrupted proceedings, shouting at the clerk who was reading out a list of names of some of his alleged victims.
Mr Habre is accused of ordering the killing of 40,000 people during his rule in the 1980s, charges he denies.
The trial marks the first time one African country has prosecuted the former leader of another.
Mr Habre refuses to recognise the legitimacy of the court, a special tribunal set up in Dakar at the behest of the African Union.
One of his alleged victims, Fatime Sakine, tortured during 15 months in prison from 1984-1986, likened the former leader’s behaviour in court to that of “a spoilt child who won’t take his medicine”, Reuters news agency reports.