Hissène Habré ruled the former French colony of Chad from 1982 until he was deposed in 1990 by current President Idriss Déby Itno and fled to Senegal. His one party regime was marked by widespread atrocities, including systematic torture.

Habré periodically targeted various ethnic groups such as the Sara (1984), Hadjerai (1987), Chadian Arabs and the Zaghawa (1989-90), killing and arresting group members en masse when he believed that their leaders posed a threat to his regime. The exact number of Habré’s victims is not known.

A 1992 Truth Commission estimated that Habré’s regime was responsible for some 40,000 deaths. Most predations were carried out by his dreaded political police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS), which reported directly to Habré.  The DDS’ most famous  torture method was called the "Arbatachar," in which a prisoner's four limbs were tied together behind his back, leading to loss of circulation and paralysis. The files of the DDS, discovered by Human Rights Watch in 2001, reveal the names of 1,208 persons who died in detention, as well as over 12,000 victims of different abuses.  

The United States and France supported Habré, seeing him as a bulwark against Libya’s Moemmar Qaddafi. Under President Ronald Reagan, the United States gave covert CIA paramilitary support to help Habré take power and remained Habré’s strongest ally throughout his rule, providing his regime with massive amounts of military aid.