Chadian President Déby pardons jailed main rival and 8 opposition leaders

Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Déby on Friday pardoned jailed ex-prime minister and leader of the main opposition party Succès Masra and eight other opposition leaders. Déby has led Chad since 2021 after taking charge of a military transition following the death of his father, Idriss Déby Itno, who was killed by rebels after 30 years leading the central African country. Chad's opposition leader sentenced to 20 years in prison for inciting violence To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 01:48 Analysts and the opposition had said that long jail terms imposed on opposition figures showed Chad was sliding further from democratic principles under Déby. Masra, one of the president's fiercest critics, was sentenced to 20 years in prison a year ago, convicted of hate speech, xenophobia and inciting a massacre, in what Human Rights Watch called a politically motivated trial. The eight other party leaders all belonged to the Political Actors' Consultation Gr...