A judge in Senegal has granted Chad’s former President Hissene Habre two months’ leave from prison, where he is serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity, as the jail is being used to hold new detainees in coronavirus quarantine. His lawyer Mamadou Diawara had requested 60 days’ leave for Habre as, due to his age, he was “particularly vulnerable” to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the judge’s order. Judge Boubacar Ndiaye noted that the Cap Manuel prison has been selected by the Senegalese authorities to hold newly arrested detainees in solitary confinement while they are in quarantine to avoid possible spread of COVID-19 in the jail. He granted a 60-day leave to Habre, to be served at his home in Ouakam, a district of Dakar, and ordered him to return to prison on its expiry. An association of victims of his regime last week said, “The health crisis should not be used as an excuse for the early release of Hissene Habre.” Senegal has registered more than 226 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and two deaths.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA
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