A Malian Islamist militant who led the 2012 destruction of cultural heritage sites and ancient manuscripts in Timbuktu has pleaded guilty at the International Criminal Court.
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Al Mahdi’s confession was a sharp about-face from his role as leader of a “morality brigade” set up by al Qaida-linked rebels who occupied the city in 2012 and enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law that included destruction of the mausoleums they considered idolatrous.
Prosecutors on Monday showed shocking images of jihadists hacking away at centuries-old tombs, including video of Mahdi taking a pick-axe to on shrine and later justifying the attacks to cameras.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the landmark case and commended the Court for bringing the significant issue to the forefront of efforts to ensure global justice and accountability, his spokesperson said in a statement. “History will not be generous to our failure to care”.
She compared the case to the destruction a year ago of historic ruins in the Syrian city of Palmyra by Islamic State extremists.
“I am really sorry, I am really remorseful, and I regret all the damage that my actions have caused”, Mahdi tells the court after pleading guilty.
“We … deeply regret that the charges against Al Mahdi were not widened to include crimes against the civilian population, including sexual and gender-based crimes, whose victims are far too often ignored during accountability processes”, FIDH member organizations said in a statement ahead of the trial.
“These buildings were deliberately destroyed by Al Mahdi and his co-perpetrators before the very eyes of the people of Timbuktu, who looked on powerlessly”, she continued.
Mahdi added that he was “influenced by a group of deviant people from Al Qaeda and Ansar Dine”, an Islamist offshoot in Mali, and said that he hoped his punishment would “serve as a purging of the evil spirits I got involved with”.
UNESCO’s assistant director-general for culture Francesco Bandarin, told judges how the world’s cultural organisation only took Timbuktu off its world heritage “in danger” sites list in 2005 after years of struggle to preserve the city from desert elements.
Critics in Mali have described Mahdi as no more than a midlevel operative and have said that others in Timbuktu had greater power and responsibility.
“It was a period in time that was one of destructive rage. All, except one, were inscribed on the World Heritage List”.
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The judgement will follow later, but it was revealed the defence and prosecution have struck a deal under which Mahdi would not appeal a jail term of between nine to 11 years. The jihadists “wanted to destroy these monuments and simply wipe them off the map”, she said, urging the court “to stand firm in our resolve to end impunity for such serious crimes”. He could now face a maximum sentence of thirty years.
