Chad’s ex-dictator temporarily released from jail

ANKARA (AA) - Chad’s former dictator Hissesne Habre, who is serving life sentence in Senegal over crimes and abuses, has been released from prison for 60 days amid coronavirus fears, according to media reports.

Habre, who has been in prison for seven years, will remain under house arrest for 60 days.

This came after his lawyer requested a provisional release, the Africa news website reported.

In May 2016, the Extraordinary African Chambers, a tribunal formed by Senegal and the African Union (AU), sentenced Habre to life in jail over charges committed during his rule (1982-1990) including rape, sexual slavery, in addition to ordering the torture and killing of thousands of his political opponents.

Habre had to serve his sentence in Senegal, where he took refuge after his fall from power at the end of 1990.

He was Chad’s seventh president, who ruled the Central African country with an iron fist from 1982 to 1990 before being ousted in a coup by Idriss Deby, Chad’s current president.

Following 19 months of investigations, the Senegalese authorities -- working in tandem with the African Union -- indicted Habre in mid-2013 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, placing him under provisional detention.

According to Chadian and international rights groups, Habre is responsible for the deaths of around 40,000 people.