Mr. Mahdi is the first man to appear before the ICC charged with cultural destruction as a war crime.
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A former Malian rebel leader has pleaded guilty at the International Criminal Court to destroying priceless monuments in Timbuktu in 2012.
The prosecution says this man with small glasses was a member of Ansar Dine, which is part of the jihadist groups linked to Al Qaeda who have controlled northern Mali for about ten months in 2012 before being largely driven by worldwide intervention initiated by France in January 2013. The one-room structures that house the tombs of the city’s great thinkers were on the World Heritage list and majority have since been restored.
It is the first ICC trial to charge an individual for war crimes against a historic and cultural monument.
An al-Qaida member responsible for destroying ancient artifacts in historic Timbuktu, Mali, told the International Criminal Court Monday he was profoundly “sorry” for his actions.
Revered as a centre of Islamic learning during its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries and a designated UNESCO world heritage site.
“Our cultural heritage is not a luxury good – we must protect it from desecration and ravages”, Bensouda told the ICC.
He expressed regret over his “wrongful” acts and begged forgiveness from the people of Timbuktu.
UNESCO has immediately raised the alarm after the destruction of the first Mausoleum in 2012 and brought it to the attention of the Court.
Believing religious or historical artefacts to be idolatrous, Al-Mahdi led religious police to the holy sites and watched while they smashed them with pick-axes and crowbars, occasionally taking part himself. Among them were images of Al Mahdi, at times with a Kalashnikov rifle slung over his shoulder, directing the attacks, which reduced the historic structures to piles of rubble. While IS commanders may hold little regard for the ICC, he says, “regular and serious investigations and prosecutions will deter at least some of them, and that is ample justification”.
“I regret what I have caused to my family, my community in Timbuktu, what I have caused to my home nation Mali”. “The interactive tool is the primary vehicle for presenting the evidence of destroyed cultural heritage in this case”, a spokesperson for Situ Research, explained.
At the start of the trial, prosecutors revealed that they had made a deal with the defence team to ask for a jail term of nine to 11 years.
He has asked the court to pardon his crimes and asked the people of Mali for forgiveness and only look at him as a son who lost his way.
“We are also investigating other crimes”, she said.
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It allied itself with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and a third group until being routed during a French-led intervention in January of 2013.
