THE witness, a slight, middle-aged woman, wanted to tell the court about something that had happened to her, something terrible that she said she had kept to herself for more than 30 years. As she faced the judges, she was just steps away from the man on trial, Hissène Habré, once Chad’s all-powerful and much-feared president.In an even tone, Khadidja Zidane told of being tortured in a prison on the grounds of the presidential compound in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital. But when Zidane moved on to talk about sexual abuse, the chief judge quickly offered to hear her testimony in private."No, I will not hide anything," Zidane said. Then in a firm voice, she blurted out: "Hissène Habré raped me four times."Zidane was one of 98 witnesses who have appeared in a courtroom in Dakar, Senegal, where a special chamber is trying Habré for crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture committed during his presidency from 1982 to 1990.For the past three months, harrowing stories have been told by m...
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