Chad’s former president Hissène Habré has died at the age of 79 while serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity.
Reports said he was being treated for a coronavirus infection,
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 8 years he was in power.
