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NEW STUDY DOCUMENTS HISSÈNE HABRÉ’S
OVERSIGHT OF
POLICE PRISONS WHERE THOUSANDS DIED
10th Anniversary of Indictment of Chad Ex-Dictator
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Ann Harrison (Benetech) ann.h@benetech.org
+1-415-637-5262
Reed Brody (Human Rights Watch) brodyr@hrw.org
+32 498 625 786 //+235 357 00 86 (Chad)
Souleymane Guengueng (victim) +1646 541 74 50
January 29, 2010, N’Djamena, Chad and Palo Alto,
CA, U.S. - On the 10th anniversary of the first indictment
of Hissène Habré in Senegal, the Benetech Human Rights
Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) released a new study showing that the
former Chadian dictator was well informed of the hundreds of deaths
that occurred in prisons operated by his political police. This
information could be critical in the long delayed prosecution of
Habré who has been accused of killing and systematically
torturing thousands of political opponents during his 1982–1990
rule in Chad.
The HRDAG report, State
Coordinated Violence in Chad under Hissène Habré,
A Statistical Analysis of Reported Prison Mortality in Chad's DDS Prisons and Command Responsibility of Hissène Habré, 1982-1990,
is based on thousands of documents generated by the Documentation
and Security Directorate (DDS), the state security force that pursued
political opponents and operated notorious prisons during the Habré
regime. The DDS files were discovered by chance by Human Rights
Watch in 2001 at the abandoned DDS headquarters in N’Djamena.
"Our analysis of document flow encompasses more than 2,700
administrative records which together illustrate a clear communication
and command link between President Habré and his secret police,”
said Romesh Silva, Senior HRDAG Demographer and lead author of the
HRDAG report. “Our findings also confirm earlier qualitative
accounts of prisoner conditions and high mortality within DDS prisons.
The information gathered by the DDS and Habré to document
their own policies and practices can now be used to hold them responsible
for documented abuses.”
HRDAG’s analysis documents the death of prisoners inside
DDS prisons between 1982 and 1990, and the extent to which Habré
and senior officials within his government are responsible for human
rights violations committed by the DDS. Analysis of DDS records,
including situation reports and death certificates, reveal that
the mortality rate within the DDS prisons varied from 30 per 1,000
to 87 per 1,000 prisoners. This rate is substantially higher than
the overall death rate of Chad in the 1970’s and 1990’s
which was less than 25 per 1,000. A total of 12,321 individual victims
were mentioned in the recovered documents including 1,208 individuals
who died in detention.
HRDAG’s analysis of the recovered documents was framed around
the international legal doctrine of Command Responsibility. This
doctrine, established by the Hague Conventions and progressively
refined in criminal trials and international tribunals, sets out
detailed criteria for the assessment of the individual responsibility
of political and military leaders. Under this doctrine, superiors
can incur criminal liability for acts committed by their subordinates
if they fail to prevent or punish subordinates for their unlawful
actions.
HRDAG’s quantitative analysis assesses the retrieved DDS
documents against the doctrine’s main criteria, which include
the existence of a superior-subordinate relationship, the superior’s
knowledge that the subordinate was about to commit a crime or had
committed a crime, and the superior’s failure to act. HRDAG's
analysis shows that Habré received 1,265 direct communications
from the DDS about the status of 898 detainees. This analysis presents
evidence that:
- Large-scale human rights violations were carried out inside
the DDS prisons.
- Both Habré and the Director of the DDS were well informed
of DDS operations.
- There was a superior-subordinate relationship between Habré
and the DDS senior leadership.
“The evidence shows that Habré was not a distant ruler
who knew nothing about these crimes,” said Jacqueline Moudeina,
president of the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense
of Human Rights, who is also a lawyer for the victims. “Habré
directed and controlled the police force which tortured those who
opposed him or those who simply belonged to the wrong ethnic group.”
Habré, who now lives in exile in Senegal, was first indicted
on February 3, 2000 by a Senegalese judge before the charges were
thrown out on a technicality. In 2006, Senegal agreed to an African
Union mandate to prosecute Habré but has refused to act until
it receives international funding for the cost of the trial.
“It’s been 10 years since Senegal first indicted Habré,
but in these ten years, thousands of my fellow survivors have perished
and we are no closer to Habré’s trial,” said
Souleymane Guengueng, 48, who almost died of dengue fever during
two years of mistreatment in Chadian prisons. “Unless Senegal
acts soon, there won’t be any victims left at the trial.”
HRDAG’s analysis is the culmination of six years of technical
work which combines information from the families of victims and
the DDS records. As justice officials in Senegal, Chad and Europe
consider how to address questions of accountability, the HRDAG report
will inform discussions about the human rights record of Habré
and the DDS.
“This analysis deepens our understanding of policies, practices
and outcomes within the DDS prisons during Habré's presidency,”
said Jeff Klingner, co-author of the report. “Our analysis
helps shift the debate from politics to science, moving from data,
to knowledge, to recognition of past crimes, and ultimately to accountability.”
About HRDAG
The Benetech Human Rights Data Analysis Group develops database
software, data collection strategies, and statistical techniques
to analyze large-scale human rights violations. Based in Palo Alto,
California, HRDAG has worked with nine truth commissions, international
criminal tribunals, and non-governmental human rights organizations
around the world. HRDAG incorporates information technology and
scientific methods to create an accurate historical record of past
conflicts and provide evidence to hold perpetrators accountable.
Related materials, including a photo essay and FAQs on HRDAG’s
work on Chad can be found at:
This press release is also available in French.
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