The Hague — A Malian jihadist who helped run the police force imposing sharia law on Timbuktu after the city was captured by militants in 2012 was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday.
Judges said Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz, 47, had played a key role in the police set up by the Ansar Dine Islamist group in the city on the fringe of the Sahara Desert.
He had taken part in or been present at many public floggings that left deep psychological wounds on victims and onlookers, the judges said.
“This regime and these acts had a traumatic effect of the population of Timbuktu,” they said.
#ICC Trial Chamber X sentences Mr #AlHassan to 10 years of imprisonment, following the trial judgment in which he was found guilty of some of the charges brought against him of war crimes & crimes against humanity committed in #Timbuktu #Mali.
— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) November 20, 2024
📖More info in press release to come pic.twitter.com/ljlXAu7RDe
Al Hassan, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges at the start of his case in 2020, was present in court clad in all white with a traditional West African robe and headdress. He showed no emotion as the sentence was read out.
In June, Al Hassan was convicted of several crimes against humanity and war crimes including religious persecution and torture.
He has been in the ICC’s detention centre since March 2018 and the more than six years he has already spent in detention will be deducted from his time. The ICC often grants release when over two-thirds of a sentence has been served so he is not expected to remain in jail much longer.
Reuters
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