Timbuktu destruction: Reactions to landmark ICC reparations order
The prosecution of al-Mahdi for his part in the destruction of 10 UNESCO-protected monuments presented a landmark trial for the ICC © MINUSMA/Marco Dorminus
On 17 August the ICC delivered its first reparations order for the war crime of destruction of cultural property. The Court found Malian Islamist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi – who had pled guilty last year to intentionally directing attacks against religious and historic buildings in Timbuktu in 2012 – personally liable for 2.7 million euros of the harms linked to his war crimes conviction.
Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi was sentenced to nine years in prison by ICC judges in October 2016 for his part in the destruction of 10 historic and religious monuments between June and July 2012 in Timbuktu, home to thousands of precious manuscripts, mausoleums of local saints and historic structures that were widely used and revered by the local population. To read more about the reparation order, click http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/news/20170823/timbuktu-destruction-reactions-landmark-icc-reparations-order