HRW urges speedy Habre trial News
HRW urges speedy Habre trial

[JURIST] Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] urged Senegal to accelerate the process of bringing former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre [HRW materials; JURIST news archive] to justice in a briefing paper [HRW backgrounder] released Thursday. Following a recommendation [JURIST report] from the July 2006 African Union assembly [official website], Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade [official profile, in French; BBC profile] agreed that Habre should be tried in Senegal, but Senegal has yet to legalize such a trial, nor has it proposed a budget securing the international aid that will be required to fund the probably complex and expensive proceedings.

Habre was the dictator of Chad from 1982 until 1990 when he was deposed and fled to Senegal. He is accused of committing widespread atrocities during his reign. In 2000, he was indicted in Senegal, but it was determined he could not be tried in Senegalese courts. In 2005, families of his victims won an international arrest warrant [JURIST report] in Belgium that resulted in Habre's arrest. Before extradition, the African Union made its recommendation for the trial to take place in Senegal. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.