International Courant
Al Hassan was convicted on prices together with torture, rape and destroying spiritual buildings.
The Worldwide Prison Courtroom (ICC) has convicted an Al Qaeda-linked chief of warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity in Mali throughout an alleged reign of terror within the metropolis of Timbuktu between 2012 and 2013.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 46, was convicted on Wednesday of prices together with torture, rape and sexual slavery, and the destruction of non secular and historic buildings.
He faces life in jail if sentenced at a later date.
Prosecutors stated Al Hassan was a key member of Ansar al-Din, an al-Qaeda-linked group that took management of northern Mali in 2012.
He was accused of personally overseeing amputations and floggings whereas serving as police chief through the interval when Ansar al-Din, working with Mali’s major Tuareg insurgent group, took management of Timbuktu for nearly a 12 months.
Protection lawyer Melinda Taylor advised the judges that Al Hassan was a member of the Islamic police drive who have been “obligated” to respect and implement the Islamic tribunal’s choices.
“That is what police do all around the world,” she stated.
Nevertheless, through the trial, which began in 2020, prosecutors stated residents of Timbuktu lived in concern of “despicable” violence throughout Al Hassan’s time.
Ladies and women suffered most underneath the Ansar al-Din regime, going through corporal punishment and jail sentences, the court docket’s then-chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, stated at the beginning of Al Hassan’s trial practically 4 years in the past.
Al Hassan is accused of forcing ladies and women to “marry” fighters, with some victims raped a number of instances, based on prosecutors, who stated he was “personally concerned” in flogging ladies accused of adultery.
In Timbuktu, the victims of Ansar al-Din’s crimes are ready for attainable compensation.
“We’re ready and hoping for a judgment that may deliver us justice,” stated Yehia Hamma Cisse, president of a gaggle of victims’ associations within the Timbuktu area.
Al Hassan is the second Malian chief to face trial earlier than the ICC for destroying spiritual shrines in Timbuktu, amongst different crimes. Timbuktu is on the UNESCO World Heritage Checklist.
The court docket in The Hague sentenced Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi to 9 years in jail in 2016, with the sentence lowered by two years on enchantment in 2021.
ICC convicts Al Qaeda-linked chief of warfare crimes in Timbuktu, Mali | The Hague Information
Africa Area Information ,Subsequent Large Factor in Public Knowledg
