DESTROYING MALI MONUMENTS NETS 9-YEAR SENTENCE

A Malian jihadist who presided over the destruction of some of Timbuktu’s oldest mausoleums was sentenced by the International Criminal Court to nine years in jail. It is the first time the sacking of cultural monuments has been treated as a war crime. ICC prosecutors hope it will serve as an “effective deterrent” to others planning similar acts, which UN head Ban Ki-moon described as “tearing at the fabric of societies.” Ahmad al-Faqi alMahdi, pictured, a former teacher, is the first Islamist extremist to be tried at The Hague and the first to be charged over the invasion by separatist rebels and the jihadist group Ansar Dine in 2012. Mahdi was seen in video footage among a group using bulldozers and pickaxes to knock down monuments.