Cultural criminal

A jihadist has been sentenced to nine years in prison for the war crime of destroying holy shrines at a United Nations world heritage site. Ahmad al-Faqi alMahdi pleaded guilty to his role in commanding attacks by Islamist rebels linked to al Qaeda who wielded pickaxes on nine mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu, Mali four years ago. AlMahdi is the first person to be convicted by the International Criminal Court on a war crimes charge of destroying ‘‘mankind’s cultural heritage’’. The shrines and mosque dated from Mali’s 14th-century golden age as a trading centre and major seat of Sufi Islam, a branch of the religion seen as idolatrous by the rebels.