August 18, 2008	Monday	Sha'aban 15, 1429

DAKAR, Aug 17: Senegal’s Justice Minister on Sunday raised doubts over the long-awaited trial of former Chadian President Hissene Habre, after Habre’s earlier conviction in Chad.Habre, who was sentenced to death in absentia by a Chadian court on Friday, could not be tried twice for the same alleged offences, Madicke Niang said.

“Habre cannot be brought to justice in another jurisdiction to be judged on the same facts,” Niang told radio station RFM. Niang said he was seeking further information from his Chadian counterpart about Friday’s sentencing.

Senegal, where Habre has lived since his overthrow in 1990, was ordered by the African Union two years ago to put the Chadian on trial. Campaigners say it would be the first time one developing nation has tried someone for human rights abuses in another.

Human rights groups and victims’ associations accuse Habre of instigating widespread political killings and torture during his eight-year rule in Chad, an oil producing country in central Africa.

“As far as we can tell, the two are for totally separate occurrences,” said Reed Brody, a lawyer with US-based Human Rights Watch.”

“We would oppose his extradition back to Chad because we have said all along that we don’t think he would get a fair trial in Chad,” he said. After the Chadian court ruling on Friday, Habre’s lawyer in Senegal said he had heard nothing official about the trial and would not take it seriously.—Reuters