Hissein Habre, A Chadian Tragedy
Directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (2016 | 82min)
Venue: Whitney Humanities Center (WHC)
Brutal dictator Hissein Habré ruled Chad from 1982 to 1990. During those years, nearly 40,000 people died in prisons ran by Habré’s police force, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS). In Mahamat Saleh-Haroun’s powerful documentary, Hissein Habré, A Chadian Tragedy, the director documents the testimony of the dictator’s victims. Led by Clément Abaïfouta, chairman of the Association of the Victims of the Hissein Habré Regime and himself a survivor, the film sees the survivors accomplishing an unprecedented feat: bringing an African Head of State to trial.
Two weeks after Haroun’s documentary premiered at Cannes, Habré was convicted of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture, becoming the first living African President sentenced for his actions.