THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court has found an al-Qaida-linked Islamist leader guilty of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Timbuktu, Mali.
Al-Hassan Ag Abdul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud is accused of playing a key role in the reign of terror unleashed by rebels in the historic desert city in northern Mali in 2012.
The suspect was accused of rape, torture, persecution, forced marriage and sexual slavery. Prosecutors said he was a key member of Ansar Dine, the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militant group that held power in northern Mali at the time.
Al Hassan could face life in prison when sentenced at a later date.
Prosecutors said he was a leading member of Ansar Dine, an al-Qaeda-linked Islamic extremist group that held power in northern Mali at the time.
Under Ansar Dine's repressive regime, women and girls particularly suffered, facing corporal punishment and imprisonment, Fatou Bensouda, then chief prosecutor at the Supreme Court, said at the start of Al Hassan's trial nearly four years ago.
“Many were forced into the marriages,” Bensouda said. “They were held against their will and repeatedly raped by members of armed groups.” Al-Hassan was involved in arranging those marriages, the prosecutor told the judges.
She quoted one rape victim as saying, “All I had left was a dead body.”
Attorney Melinda Taylor told the judge that Al Hassan was a member of the Islamic police and “has a duty to respect and enforce the decisions of the Islamic courts, which is what police forces all over the world do.”
In Timbuktu, victims of Ansar Dine's crimes awaited justice and compensation.
“We are waiting for the verdict that will bring justice,” said Yehia Hama Cisse, head of the Timbuktu region's victims' association.
“Members of our organisation have been raped, mutilated and whipped and we want compensation,” he said.
The court issued the compensation order following the 2016 conviction of Ansar Dine member Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2012 for attacking nine mausoleums and the door of a mosque in Timbuktu.
A French-led military operation removed Al-Hassan and others from power in 2013.
Mali, along with neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has been battling insurgencies perpetrated by militias allied with al-Qaida and Islamic State for more than a decade. Following a series of military coups in the three countries in recent years, the governments have expelled French troops and instead turned to Russian mercenaries for security help.
Colonel Assimi Goita, who took command of Mali after a second coup in 2021, has pledged to return the country to democracy in early 2024. But in September, the junta indefinitely suspended elections scheduled for February 2024, citing the need for further technical preparations.
The verdict in Al Hassan's case was delayed by about six months due to illness of one of the judges presiding over the case.
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Associated Press writer Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali, contributed to this report.
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