Their head of religious police, who pleaded guilty yesterday to cultural destruction, will be the first war criminal convicted of that crime. He should not be the last.
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The ICC has heard how jihadists including Mahdi regarded worshipping at the shrines as idolatrous, according to their strict interpretation under Sharia law.
Nine medieval mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu were razed four years ago by a band of pickaxe-wielding Islamist militants.
The trial marks a new step in the full recognition of deliberate destruction of heritage as war crimes, after decades of efforts by UNESCO and by the worldwide community, notably since the destruction of the Old City of Dubrovnik in Croatia and of the Old Bridge of Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which strengthened the legal basis and global awareness that no such crime should remain unpunished.
Prosecutors said that Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, a member of a jihadi group linked to Al Qaeda, took part in the smashing of a number of venerable centuries-old mud and stone buildings holding the tombs of holy men and scholars.
First of all, Mahdi is the first suspect to face ICC with charges of destructing heritage, the first radical Malian to stand before worldwide court, and the first to be accused for crimes during the struggle in Mali.
Mahdi said, “It is also my hope that the years I will spend in prison will be source to purge the evil spirit that took me and I will keep my hopes high that the people will be able to forgive me”.
“He said he selected cemeteries based on where most”.
Under court rules, there will be a few days of hearings to provide judges with more evidence to evaluate the scope of the case and to determine a sentence.
“When a site is destroyed deliberately”.
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.
He enforced the rulings of the Islamic Court of Timbuktu, set up by the groups, and ran the “Manners Brigade”.
At first, several hundred fighters, including men from Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, and Tunisia, moved into the region, where they recruited locals to help subdue the inhabitants as they imposed their harsh form of Islam.
Timbuktu reportedly holds over 700,000 manuscripts dating back 600 years, and according to UNESCO, over 4,000 were destroyed in the conflict.
In and around Timbuktu, most of the destroyed tombs have been rebuilt in the traditional masonry with funds from foreign donors.
Alice Banens, a lawyer for the International Federation for Human Rights, said lawsuits had been filed in Mali on behalf of women and girls who had been raped.
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Mahdi, also known as Abou Tourab, said he is accepting the judgment of the chamber.
