Communication N° 181/2001 Submitted by: Suleymane Guengueng et al. Alleged victims: The complainants State party: Senegal Date of adoption of Views: 17 May 2006 Subject matter: prosecution of former Chadian President Hissène Habré for acts of torture in Chad have disappeared: on the basis of developments in international law and the case law of various international bodies, the complainants consider this equivalent to torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment, both for the disappeared persons and, in particular, for their relations. Procedural issue: jurisdiction over complainants Substantive issues: jurisdiction over torture offences; duty to prosecute or to extradite 2.3 After being ousted by the current President of Chad, Idriss Déby, in December 1990, Hissène Habré took refuge in Senegal, where he has since resided. In January 2000, the complainants lodged a complaint against him with an examining magistrate in Dakar. On 3 February 2000, the examining magistrate charged Hissène Habré with being an accomplice to acts of torture, placed him under house arrest and opened an inquiry against a person or persons unknown for crimes against humanity. Articles of the Convention: 5, paragraph 2; 7 1.1 The complainants are Suleymane Guengueng, Zakaria Fadoul Khidir, Issac Haroun, Younous Mahadjir, Valentin Neatobet Bidi, Ramadane Souleymane and Samuel Togoto Lamaye (hereinafter “the complainants”), all of Chadian nationality and living in Chad. They claim to be victims of a violation by Senegal of article 5, paragraph 2, and article 7 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (hereinafter “the Convention”). 2.4 On 18 February 2000, Hissène Habré applied to the Indictment Division of the Dakar Court of Appeal for the charge against him to be dismissed. The complainants consider that, thereafter, political pressure was brought to bear to influence the course of the proceedings. They allege in particular that, following this application, the examining magistrate who had indicted Hissène Habré was transferred from his position by the Supreme Council of Justice and that the President of the Indictment Division before which the appeal of Hissène Habré was pending was transferred to the Council of State. 1.2 Senegal ratified the Convention on 21 August 1986 and made the declaration under article 22 of the Convention on 16 October 1996. 1.3 In accordance with article 22, paragraph 3, of the Convention, the Committee brought the communication to the attention of the State party on 20 April 2001. At the same time, the Committee, acting under article 108, paragraph 9, of its rules of procedure, requested the State party, as an interim measure, not to expel Hissène Habré and to take all necessary measures to prevent him from leaving the territory other than under an extradition procedure. The State party acceded to this request. 2.5 On 4 July 2000, the Indictment Division dismissed the charge against Hissène Habré and the related proceedings on the grounds of lack of jurisdiction, affirming that “Senegalese courts cannot take cognizance of acts of torture committed by a foreigner outside Senegalese territory, regardless of the nationality of the victims: the wording of article 669 of the Code of Criminal Procedure excludes any such jurisdiction.” Following this ruling, the Special Rapporteurs on the question of torture and on the independence of judges and lawyers of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights expressed their concerns in a press release dated 2 August 2000.1 The facts as submitted by the complainants 2.1 Between 1982 and 1990, when Hissène Habré was President of Chad, the complainants were purportedly tortured by agents of the Chadian State answerable directly to President Hissène Habré. The acts of torture committed during this period formed the subject of a report by the National Commission of Inquiry established by the Chadian Ministry of Justice; according to that report 40,000 political murders and systematic acts of torture were committed by the Habré regime. 1 According to the press release, “[t]he Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Mr. Dato Param Cumaraswamy, and the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, Sir Nigel Rodley, have expressed their concern to the Government of Senegal over the circumstances surrounding the recent dismissal of charges against Hissène Habré, the former President of Chad. […] 2.2 The complainants have submitted to the Committee a detailed description of the torture and other forms of ill-treatment that they claim to have suffered. Moreover, relatives of two of them, Valentin Neatobet Bidi and Ramadane Souleymane, 99