\n Prosecutors in Senegal spelled out on Tuesday some of the cruel abuses meted out to detainees of Chadian ex-dictator Hissene Habre's brutal regime, including the infamous \"Arbatachar\" torture method.\n<\/p>\n
\n The 72-year-old's war crimes trial in Dakar heard how the punishment -- in which a prisoner's four limbs were tied together behind their back, causing excruciating pain -- was a preferred technique of the feared secret police.\n<\/p>\n
\n Clerks of the court read out a lengthy document detailing the circumstances of the charges against him, including his alleged complicity in the abuses of the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS).\n<\/p>\n
\n Torture of suspects included electric shocks, gas sprayed into eyes, spice rubbed into their private parts and waterboarding, the court heard.\n<\/p>\n
\n Habre -- once backed by France and the United States as a bulwark against Libya's Moamer Kadhafi -- is accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture between 1982 and 1990.\n<\/p>\n
\n An estimated 40,000 people were killed under his regime, and the Extraordinary African Chambers, whose authority Habre refuses to recognise, is charged with ruling on whether the dictator is personally responsible.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Among those arrested, many had their property confiscated or looted. The confiscation was done on the orders of higher authorities,\" the indictment read out to the hearing said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The assets were handed over to the general management of the DDS. Salaries were blocked. Houses were allocated to military officers,\" said the document, quoting testimony from victims.\n<\/p>\n
\n Habre was overthrown after eight years in power in 1990 and fled to Senegal, where he was arrested in June 2013 and has since been in custody.\n<\/p>\n
\n Delayed for years, the trial sets an historic precedent as African leaders accused of atrocities have previously been tried in international courts.\n<\/p>\n
\n Tuesday's proceedings were interrupted several times, including by a Chadian who was expelled after standing up to make a speech, before the court adjourned until Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prosecutors in Senegal spelled out on Tuesday some of the cruel abuses meted out to detainees of Chadian ex-dictator Hissene Habre's brutal regime, including the infamous \"Arbatachar\" torture method. The 72-year-old's war crimes trial in Dakar heard how the punishment -- in which a prisoner's four limbs were tied together behind their back, causing excruciating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-1955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n