Habre's lawyers try to halt trial

Habre: I didn't torture or kill anyone

Lawyers for the former President of Chad, Hissene Habre, are to try to persuade a Senegalese court that it has no jurisdiction to try Mr Habre on torture and murder charges.

The former president's case was due to reopen on Tuesday in Dakar, where he was arrested while living in exile.

The court will hear a motion by Mr Habre's lawyers to cancel the charges levelled against him by Chadians and human rights organisations, involving allegations that he was responsible for ordering torture and killings while in office.

The lawyers argue that Senegal has no jurisdiction over crimes commited in Chad.

"The law is on our side. If everything is done with due respect to the law, our request will be granted," a member of the defence team said.

Medical evidence

The court will also hear testimony from medical expert Helen Jaffe who was hired by the Chadian government to investigate the tortures after Mr Habre was overthrown in 1990.

The French expert told the media that she and her team had examined 472 cases of adult torture victims, and another 119 involving children.

She said a frequent form of torture, she found, was the "arbatachar," in which a prisoner's four limbs were tied together behind his back, leading to loss of circulation, and paralysis. Prisoners were also subject to electric shocks, drownings and beatings.

Several other key witnesses, including the president of Chad's truth commission, Mahamat Hassan Abakar, are also expected to testify.

Most of the abuses were carried out by Mr Habre's dreaded secret police, the National Security Service or Direction de la Documentation et de la Securite (DDS).

The case is the first time a former African head of state has been brought to court in another country on human rights charges.

It has been compared to the case of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, who was detained in the United Kingdom after being wanted by Spain to answer charges relating to acts of torture committed in Chile.