ICC convicts Timbuktu jihad police chief of war crimes
Malian city of Timbuktu.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 46, was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture and outrages upon personal dignity.
Presiding judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua said Al Hassan played a «key role» overseeing amputations and floggings as police chief when Islamic militants seized control of Timbuktu for almost a year from early 2012.
A timetable for his sentencing will be handed down soon.
Dressed in a yellow robe and white headdress, Al Hassan sat impassively throughout the nearly two-hour verdict with arms folded.
Al Hassan was also involved in interrogations where torture was used to extract confessions, Mindua said.
Mindua laid out in detail the reign of terror under the militants in Timbuktu, including women being arrested then raped in detention.
«The inhabitants had no other choice but to adapt their lives and lifestyles to conform to the interpretation of Islamic Sharia law… imposed on them by the force of arms,» said Mindua.
He was however acquitted of the war crimes of rape and sexual slavery, as well as the crime against humanity of forced marriage.
He was also acquitted of the war crime of attacking protected objects.
— 'Pearl of the desert' -
Founded between the fifth and 12th centuries by Tuareg tribes, Timbuktu is known as the «Pearl of the Desert» and «The City of 333 Saints» for the number of Muslim sages buried there during a golden age of Islam.
But jihadists
