Former Chadian President Hissène Habré has died at age 79

Former Chadian President Hissène Habré has died at age 79 in Senegal, where he was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity after an unprecedented trial, Senegalese Justice Minister Malick Sall said Tuesday.

"Habré has been handed over to his Lord," the minister said on the TFM channel. Senegalese media reported that he had died of Covid-19.

Hissène Habré, who ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990, was sentenced on 30 May 2016 to life imprisonment after an unprecedented trial in Dakar, after being found guilty of crimes like , rape, murder, slavery and kidnapping. A Chadian judicial commission of enquiry estimated that 40,000 people died as a result of the repression under the Habré regime.

Hissène Habré, ousted in 1990, had found refuge in Senegal, as a result of international pressure, where the conditions for his trial were created and where he was arrested in 2013 and charged by a special court set up in cooperation with the African Union.