The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced a key member of a Malian armed group to 10 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed more than a decade ago in the city of Timbuktu.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz was convicted in June on charges including torture, rape and sexual slavery, as well as destroying religious and historic buildings, while serving as police chief after the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Din group seized control of Timbuktu in 2012 for nearly a year.
Presiding Judge Kimberly Prost ruled on Wednesday that the 47-year-old contributed to the Ansar al-Dine rule, whose actions had a “traumatic effect on the population of Timbuktu”.
The people “lived in an atmosphere of fear, violence, oppression, [and] humiliation” and that period “remains present in the minds of victims in a deep-seated trauma”, she said.
The sentence “is proportionate to the gravity of the crimes and the individual circumstances and culpability of Mr Al Hassan”, she added.
“It adequately reflects the strong condemnation by the international community for the crimes committed by him and acknowledges the significant harm and suffering caused to the victims,” Prost continued.
Clad in all-white traditional West African robes with his head wrapped in a turban, Al Hassan showed no emotion after the judge read his sentence. But he listened intently with his hands folded in his lap.
He was later led away by ICC security guards.
Among the crimes committed by Al Hassan were “cruel treatment as a war crime” for flogging one person, “mutilation” for amputating a hand, and “torture as a crime against humanity and a war crime”.
The Hague-based court also heard that during the Ansar al-Dine rule, women were arrested then raped in detention.
There were also brutal floggings in the central square in front of crowds including children, as well as a public amputation by machete.
Al Hassan was, however, acquitted in June of the war crimes of rape and sexual slavery, as well as the crime against humanity of forced marriage.
Although the court ruled that certain crimes of sexual violence had taken place during the period, he was not found to bear responsibility for them.