Senegal's foreign minister says the government decided not to extradite former Chadian President Hissene Habre, just hours before he was to be sent home on Monday.

Madicke Niang said Senegal decided to suspend the extradition at the request of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

In a statement issued earlier Sunday, Ms. Pillay said that Senegal, as a party to the Convention Against Torture, may not extradite anyone to a state “where there are substantial grounds for believing he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”

Mr. Habre, who was ousted in a coup in 1990 by current Chadian President Idriss Deby, was sentenced to death in absentia for the torture and killing of political opponents. He has lived in Senegal since the coup.

Several human rights groups also expressed concern about Senegal's intention to send Mr. Habre home. Alioune Tine, who is president of the African Human Rights Organization, said you cannot send someone to a country that practices torture and uses the death penalty.