Chad's former leader sentenced to death

N'DJAMENA, Chad, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Hissen Habre, a former president of Chad, has been sentenced to death for planning to overthrow the government.

Habre was sentenced in absentia along with several rebel leaders, the BBC reported Saturday. They were accused of orchestrating an attack this year on the Chadian capital of N'Djamena.

Habre was deposed in 1990 and lives in exile in Senegal, which has been urged by the African Union to try Habre for human rights offenses.

An investigating panel found Habre's government was responsible for about 40,000 politically motivated murders and 200,000 cases of torture, the British network reported.