Timbuktu attacker jailed for 9 years in historic verdict

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS: An international court on Tuesday found a Muslim radical guilty of committing a war crime by overseeing the destruction of historic mausoleums in the Malian desert city of Timbuktu, and sentenced him to nine years in prison.

Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, a former teacher, had pleaded guilty and expressed remorse for his role in overseeing the destruction of nine mausoleums and a mosque door by pickaxwielding rebels in June and July of 2012.

His trial, which opened on August 22, was a landmark for the International Criminal Court, which has struggled to bring suspects to justice since its establishment in 2002.

It was the tribunal’s first conviction for destruction of religious buildings or historic monuments, and the first guilty verdict delivered against a Muslim extremist.

Al-Qaeda-linked rebels occupied the fabled Saharan city of Timbuktu in 2012 and enforced a strict interpretation of Islamic law that included destruction of the historic mud-brick tombs they considered idolatrous.

Al Mahdi was leader of one of the “morality brigades” set up by Timbuktu’s new rulers.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the verdict ent “a warning” to others planning such attacks.