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Chadian policemen sentenced to life for torture

Seven former policemen in Chad have been sentenced to life imprisonment for torture, in the first trial of former president Hissene Habre's accomplices.

Under Mr Habre's rule from 1982 to 1990 thousands of people are thought to have been killed and tortured. He is currently being held in Senegal awaiting a war crimes trial.

The men policemen sentenced include Mahamat Djibrine, described by investigators as one of the "most feared torturers in Chad", and Saleh Younouss, a former senior official in Mr Habre's notorious Directorate of Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS).

"Finally, finally, the men who brutalised us and then laughed in our faces for decades have got their comeuppance," Clement Abaifouta, an ex-political prisoner who now heads an association for Habre's victims, is quoted by Reuters.

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