Leading Chadian lawyer and ‘Alternative Nobel’ Laureate Jacqueline Moudeina this week celebrated the final conviction of the country’s former dictator Hissène Habré. On 27 April, the Appeals court in Senegal confirmed the life sentence for Habré for his crimes against humanity. “This is the message we are sending to all dictators and violators of human rights,” Moudeina told AFP news agency.
Jacqueline Moudeina received the Right Livelihood Award in 2011 for her tireless work in achieving justice for victims of the Habré dictatorship in Chad and her role in promoting human rights in Africa.
Moudeina has represented Habré’s victims since 2000. She was severely injured in a 2001 assassination attempt but remained undeterred from pursuing charges against the former dictator and his accomplices. In 2013 she won an important victory when a special court established in Senegal indicted Habré for torture, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The trial resumed in 2015 and, in 2016, the African Extraordinary Chambers found Habré guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sentenced him to life in prison.
Moudeina’s work extends well beyond the Habré case. She has assumed a leading role on issues such as corruption, prisoners’ rights, women’s rights and children’s rights as president of the Chadian Association for the Promotion and Defense of Human Rights (ATDPH).
