Chad ex-leader sentenced to death

Hissene Habre's regime has been accused of widespread atrocities

A court in Chad has sentenced to death former President Hissen Habre for planning to overthrow the government.

Mr Habre was sentenced in absentia along with several rebel leaders, who launched an assault on the Chadian capital, N'Djamena, earlier this year.

Mr Habre, sometimes dubbed "Africa's Pinochet", was deposed in 1990 and lives in exile in Senegal.

He is unlikely to leave Senegal which has been asked by the African Union to try him for alleged rights crimes.

Mr Habre was deposed after eight years in power in an uprising led by current President Idriss Deby, and denies knowledge of the alleged murder and torture of political opponents.

A commission of inquiry said Mr Habre's government was responsible for some 40,000 politically motivated murders and 200,000 cases of torture.

The court in N'Djamena also tried a number of rebel leaders in absentia, which it heard had been working with Mr Habre to overthrow the government.

Mr Deby has been fighting a sporadic rebellion in the east along Chad border with Sudan's Darfur region.

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