A west African regional tribunal on Friday said it will decide in October on whether Senegal has the right to try exiled former dictator of Chad on crimes against humanity charges. Awa Nana, the chief judge of the Abuja-based Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court set October 19 for the handing down of the ruling. Habre, accused of 'crimes against humanity', has been living in exile in Senegal since 1990. He has alleged that his rights are being violated by Dakar, which is looking into the rights abuse allegations against him. He is challenging Senegal for violating a universal principle of non- retroactivity of criminal law which forbids new laws from being used to try offences committed before they were introduced. 'My prayer is that the court is going to say to Senegal that...it has no right to try Hissene Habre,' said Francois Serres, Habre's lawyer. Senegal's lawyer Sadel Ndiaye said Habre's case was premature because there was no evidence that his rights have been violated or that he would be put on trial. 'It is too early for Hissene Habre and his lawyers to bring a case before this court in order to get a decision for Senegal to respect his human rights,' Ndiaye said. But Serres argued that already preparations were underway for the trial in Senegal. 'We are saying that the violation is effective as of today because a judge has been designated, a committee has been set up to determine the scope of the investigation,' Serres said. Habre has been blamed for killing and torturing of thousands during his rule from 1982 to 1990, when he was toppled and fled the country. An official truth commission report in 1992 accused Habre's regime of committing some 40,000 political murders. The former Chadian leader also urged the ECOWAS court on Friday to order the Senegalese government to pay him 11 million dollars in damages for violation of his rights. 'We are claiming damages because since 2005 he is a victim of judicial harassment and is deprived of his rights to move within Senegal and live in Senegal,' Serres told selfnews after the hearing. 'Mr Habre has no passport. He has no right as a political refugee to travel. His reputation has been badly damaged by all these accusations,' he added. 