ICC delivers verdicts in trial of alleged Islamic extremist accused of Mali atrocities

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court will deliver its verdict Wednesday in the trial of a suspect accused of playing a key role in the reign of terror unleashed by al-Qaeda-linked insurgents in the city history of Timbuktu, in northern Mali, in 2012.

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

Prosecutors say he was a key member of Ansar Dine, an Islamic extremist group linked to al-Qaeda that held power in northern Mali at the time.

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 a year ago. almost 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. »

Defense 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 group 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 neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, has been battling an insurgency for more than a decade by armed groups, some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. Following military coups in all three countries in recent years, the ruling juntas 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 indefinitely canceled elections scheduled for February 2024, 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.

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

Molly Quell, Associated Press