A Chadian rebel leader is among three people detained in France in an investigation into allegations of crimes against humanity.

The Paris prosecutor's office and the national gendarmerie confirmed the arrest Monday of Mahamat Nouri and the two others in three separate locations around France on allegations of crimes against humanity for acts committed in Chad and Sudan between 2005 and 2010. The prosecutor's office said France opened an investigation in 2017.

Nouri launched a failed coup against Chadian leader Idriss Deby in 2008 and was sentenced to death in absentia that year. His rebels freely crossed the border between Chad and Sudan's Darfur region. In a 2016 interview with the French magazine Paris Match, Nouri said he went into exile in Qatar and was denied asylum in France.