ICC sentences Timbuktu war criminal to 10 years in prison | World News

The International Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced a jihadist police chief to 10 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the terror regime in Mali’s fabled city of Timbuktu.

ICC judges convicted Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 47, of crimes including torture while he was a member of the feared Ansar Dine Islamic militant group that seized control of Timbuktu for almost a year from early 2012.

Presiding judge Kimberly Prost said the sentence was “proportionate to the gravity of the crimes and Mr Al Hassan’s individual circumstances and culpability”.

“This adequately reflects the international community’s strong condemnation of the crimes committed by him and acknowledges the serious harm and suffering caused to the victims.” he added.

Al Hassan, wearing all-white traditional West African robes with his head wrapped in a turban, listened intently with his hands clasped in his lap.

After the judge read the sentence, he showed no emotion before being led away by ICC security guards.

Al Hassan’s crimes included “cruel treatment as a war crime” for flogging a person, “mutilation” for amputating a hand, and “crime against humanity and torture as a war crime.”

Prost ruled that Al Hassan contributed to the Ansar Dine regime, whose actions “had a traumatic impact on the population of Timbuktu.”

He said the people “live in an atmosphere of fear, violence, oppression, humiliation, and a deep trauma remains in the minds of the victims.”

The court heard that during Ansar Dine’s rule, women were arrested and raped in custody.

There were also brutal floggings in the central square in front of crowds, including children, and public amputations with machetes.

However, Al Hassan was acquitted in June of war crimes such as rape and sexual slavery, as well as crimes against humanity such as forced marriage.

Although the court decided that some sexual violence crimes were committed during the period in question, it was not determined that he was responsible for these crimes.

He was also acquitted of the war crime of attacking protected objects.

Founded by Tuareg tribes between the 5th and 12th centuries, Timbuktu is called the “Pearl of the Desert” and the “City of 333 Saints” due to the number of Muslim sages buried here during the golden age of Islam.

However, the jihadists who flocked to the city considered the shrines as idolatry and destroyed them with pickaxes and bulldozers.

Militants from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine groups exploited an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012 to capture cities in Mali’s volatile north.

Al Hassan became the second Malian jihadist suspect sentenced by the court in connection with Timbuktu.

Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in the destruction of shrines in Timbuktu.

The sentence was later reduced to two years.

Among the ICC’s spotlight for alleged atrocities committed in Timbuktu is Iyad Ag Ghaly, one of the leading jihadist leaders in the Sahel.

Ag Ghaly is considered the leader of the Al Qaeda-linked Islam and Muslims Support Group, which operates in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The ICC said Ag Ghaly, also known as “Abou Fadl”, was wanted on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Timbuktu.

These include murder, rape and sexual slavery, as well as attacks on religious and historical monuments.

The ICC issued a formal warrant for his arrest in June.

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