The International Criminal Court (ICC ) made public his judgment in the trial of Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud .
The accused, also called “Al Hassan”, was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity – facts dating back to the years 2012-2013. At the time, Al Hassan was a high-ranking official in the Islamic police of the Ansar Dine/Aqmi jihadist group in Timbuktu.
Confinement, humiliation, flogging, mutilation…
Al Hassan remained impassive during the reading of the oral summary by Congolese judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua. For nearly two hours, the magistrate recalled the crimes examined by the Court during the four years of trial.
The very description of these crimes is painful to hear. They were committed under the regime of terror established by the jihadist group Ansar Dine/Aqmi in the years 2012-2013, when terrorists reigned supreme over the city of Timbuktu.
Al Hassan was at the time a leader of the Hesba, the Islamic police. In this capacity, he, among other crimes, participated in the arrest, detention, and flogging of people convicted by the Islamic court set up in the city which considered that these people contravened the precepts of Islam.
The Hesba, Islamic police
The first jihadist tried by the ICC for the destruction of mausoleums in Timbuktu, Ahmad a-Mahdi, described the Hesba’s mission in these terms: “to promote virtue and prevent vice”.
Adulterous women, unmarried couples, or even women who were too poorly covered according to the Islamic police were thus arrested, locked in cramped cells without drinking or eating, forced to relieve themselves on the floor, and received beatings. of whip. Some victims were even mutilated.
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Fight against impunity
The judges found that Al Hassan had directly participated in or conspired to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity: torture, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, persecution on religious grounds, mutilation.
Alioune Tine, independent United Nations expert on the human rights situation in Mali and founder of the think tank AfrikaJom, expressed his satisfaction with the verdict: “I am very happy. I think that [la lutte contre] impunity is a central issue in the fight against terrorism. Those who committed crimes against humanity and war crimes must be held accountable before the ICC.”
Al Hassan was, however, acquitted of other charges against him: rape, attack on protected property, forced marriages in particular.
A signal to the leaders of the Sahel
The Court will clarify its sentence shortly. But for Alioune Tine, this verdict goes beyond the simple case of Al Hassan:
“It is also very important to send very clear messages to the authorities of the countries that are facing the war against terrorism to say that the international community is there, that it is following and is ready to take its responsibilities with regard to terrorism.
I welcome the ICC’s decision. I encourage him to continue to fight against terrorism. Also encourage States to fight against terrorism and especially against impunity for international crimes.
It is important to send this message to the Sahel, that the international community is not indifferent to the challenges, to the extremely complex crises, particularly the security crisis, which these countries are facing.”
Last Friday, the ICC made public an arrest warrant against Iyad Ag Ghaly, one of the main jihadist leaders in the area, for war crimes and crimes against humanity also allegedly committed, essentially, in Timbuktu, in 2012 and 2013.
 – DW – 06/26/2024){kind=link}