The Trial of Hissène Habré by Celeste Hicks

Khadija’s testimony was yet another example of how the voices of victims were integral in proving this case.Īfter a 10-month trial in Senegal, Habré was finally handed a life imprisonment sentence last week for his ultimate responsibility for the human rights abuses carried out in secret prisons and in rebellious communities by the Directorate of Documentation and Security (DDS), a secret police service that he created when he seized power. He had been arrested in 2013 after living for 25 years in exile in Dakar, and at first had to be dragged to the courtroom kicking and screaming. Habré–as he had done on every other day of the grueling hearings before the EAC–sat without a flicker of emotion on his face. No one knew in advance the full details of what Khadija was to allege. To the astonishment of many, Khadija looked Habré straight in the eye at one point, she offered to pull up her skirt to show the court the scar she had from when he jabbed a pen into her leg when she resisted. Khadija spoke in front of a court full of men, and the proceedings were being live-streamed. Habré, on trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture during his eight-year rule from 1982-90, was sitting just meters away from her in a leather armchair, clad from head to foot in a gleaming white djellaba and wearing dark glasses.

When Khadija Hassan Zidane stood up in front of the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) in Dakar in October 2015 and accused Chad’s former President Hissene Habré of having raped her on four occasions, the atmosphere in the room became electrified. Victims of Hissene Habré during a press conference held prior to the former Chadian dictator's trial.

The Trial of Hissène Habré by Celeste Hicks