ICC delivers verdict in trial of suspected Islamist extremist accused of atrocities in Mali

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court delivers its verdict Wednesday in the trial of a suspect accused of playing a key role in the reign of terror unleashed by insurgents linked to Al-Qaida on the city history of the Timbuktu desert in northern Mali in 2012.

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud could face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of crimes including rape, torture, persecution, forced marriage and sexual slavery committed between April 2012 and late January 2013 in the city once known as the “Pearl of the Desert.”

Prosecutors say it was a key member of Ansar Dinean Islamic extremist group linked to Al-Qaeda which then held power in northern Mali.

Women and girls particularly suffered under Ansar Dine's repressive regime, risking corporal punishment and imprisonment, Fatou Bensouda, the court's then-chief prosecutor, said at the start of Al Hassan's trial nearly a year ago. of four years.

“Many were forced to marry,” Bensouda said. “Confined against their will and raped several times by members of the armed group. » Al Hassan was involved in organizing these marriages, the prosecutor told the judges.

She quoted a rape victim as saying: “All that was left of me was a corpse. »

Defence lawyer Melinda Taylor told judges that Al Hassan was a member of the Islamic police who was “obligated to respect and carry out the decisions of the Islamic court”. This is what police around the world are doing.

In Timbuktu, the victims of Ansar Dine's crimes awaited the verdict and possible compensation.

“We are waiting and hoping for a judgment that will do us justice,” declared Yehia Hamma Cissé, president of a collective of victims’ associations in the Timbuktu region.

“Members of our associations have been raped, had their hands cut off, been whipped and we would like to be compensated,” he said.

The court issued a reparations order following the 2016 conviction of Ansar Dine member Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi. He was sentenced to nine years in prison for attacking nine mausoleums and a mosque door in Timbuktu in 2012.

A French-led military operation in 2013 forced Al Hassan and others from power.

Mali, along with its neighbors Burkina Faso and Niger, have been battling an insurgency led by armed groups, including some allied with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, for more than a decade. Following military coups in all three countries in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance.

Colonel Assimi Goita, who took control of Mali after a second coup in 2021, promised to return the country to democracy in early 2024. But in September, the junta canceled the elections scheduled for February 2024 for an indefinite period, citing the need for additional technical preparations.

The verdicts in Al Hassan's case were delayed for about six months due to the illness of one of the judges in his trial.

___

Associated Press journalist Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali, contributed to this report.