Another extradition attempt on a friend of the US for nytaf@ursula; Fri, 11 Feb 2000 08:57:55 -0500 Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit source - MichaelP Here's another news item that doesn't get much airing in the commercial-style US media. Whatever happens to Pinochet - extradited for trial or not - after this week's hearings the whole process in London has opened up great possibilities for punishing genocidal acts by political leaders. It also happens that this one , Chad's ex-president Hissene Habre, was helped into power by our own friends the CIA - intended as a counter to the influence of Lybia in sub-Saharan Africa. I can't wait to have someone try extraditing Henry K, especially if he takes a trip away from his US sanctuary. Prhaps he too will be decalred mentally unfit !! Cheers MichaelP ===================== Agence France Presse Wednesday, January 26 11:14 PM SGT Senegal has jurisdiction to deal with Habre charges: lawyer DAKAR, Jan 26 (AFP) - Senegal has jurisdiction to try Chad's former president Hissene Habre, who has been accused of crimes against humanity, a lawyer for the victims said Wednesday. Local and international human rights groups on Tuesday filed a complaint with a Dakar court Tuesday against Habre, whom they described as the "Pinochet of Africa." Under international conventions ratified by Senegal, "when a complaint is filed in one of the signatory countries, that country is competent to deal with the charges, whatever the nationality of the accused," said the lawyer, Boukounta Diallo. The same treaties allowed for the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in Britain last year. The ailing Pinochet is still being held in London, amid legal moves to have him tried elsewhere. Habre, 58, Chad's third president since independence, is accused of masterminding the torture, assassination and disappearance of hundreds of victims during his rule, from 1982 to 1990. Habre has been in exile in Senegal since being overthrown 1990 by current President Idriss Deby. Diallo said the complaint against the former president was now in the hands of the court prosecutor in Dakar. He will study the charges -- which run into hundreds of pages, according to the rights groups -- and decide whether to open a judicial enquiry. Following that enquiry, Habre will be told whether he is to be indicted, Diallo said. Habre, whose luxury villa was guarded by several plainclothes policemen, refused to speak to reporters Wednesday. The seven rights groups which have filed the complaint include Human Rights Watch, the International Federation of Human Rights, the Chadian League of Human Rights and a Senegalese group. They have provided the Senegalese court with "information detailing 97 cases of political assassination, 142 cases of torture and 100 cases of disappearances," they said in a statement Tuesday. The groups have asked the Senegalese public prosecutor Abdoulaye Gaye to take steps to prevent Habre from fleeing the country. Nine Chadians and a Chadian association representing 792 victims of Habre's regime have also brought a civil action against Habre. In January 1998, Chad's Justice Minister Limane Mahamat said his country intended to seek Habre's extradition. An enquiry commission set up by the Chad government said that Habre had taken some seven billion CFA francs (11.6 million dollars) with him when he fled to Senegal. The commission report also accused Habre's political police of killing some 40,000 people. *** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. *** ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytaf-02.11.00-08:57:54-20589