ICC Sentences War Criminal to Prison for Destroying Timbuktu Heritage [VIDEO]

In a landmark decision, today the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down a nine year prison sentence in the matter of The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, the first war crimes case specifically focused on the destruction of cultural and religious heritage.

Presiding Judge Raul Pangalangan, a Harvard educated jurist from the Philippines, incarcerated Mahdi for intentionally directing attacks against ten buildings of a historical or religious character in Timbuktu, a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Mahdi is a native of the West African nation of Mali who joined Ansar Dine, an al-Qaeda allied group, in April 2012. On June 30 and July 11, 2012, Mahdi ordered the destruction of nine mausoleums and the Sidi Yahia Mosque. Prosecutors named the defendant as head of the Hisbah, a vice squad established to uphold public morality.

The ICC issued a warrant for Mahdi’s arrest in 2015. After prosecutors and the defendant reached a plea deal in February 2016, the ICC received Mahdi’s admission of guilt and reviewed the prosecution’s evidence at a trial held last month. Mahdi faced a war crimes charge under Article 25 of the Rome Statute.

Video of today’s groundbreaking hearing is presented in its entirety, courtesy of the ICC.

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