War crimes court holds Islamist liable for $3.2 mln in damages to Timbuktu shrines

Record ID: 906753

  • Title: War crimes court holds Islamist liable for $3.2 mln in damages to Timbuktu shrines
  • Date: 17th August 2017
  • Summary: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (AUGUST 17, 2017) (REUTERS) BICYCLES PASSING BY THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) ICC FLAG COURTHOUSE ENTRANCE
  • Embargoed: 31st August 2017 10:51
  • Keywords: International Criminal Court ICC rules Islamist liable for for $3.2 mln damages Timbuktu destruction Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi 2.7 million euros
  • Location: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS
  • City: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions
  • Reuters ID: LVA0016UJOXTZ
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Judges at the International Criminal Court ruled on Thursday (August 17) that a former Islamist rebel who was jailed for wrecking holy sites in Timbuktu was liable for damages of 2.7 million euros ($3.2 million).
    Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi was jailed for nine years in 2016 after pleading guilty to war crimes for his involvement in the destruction of 10 mausoleums and religious sites in Timbuktu. The sites date from Mali's 14th-century golden age as a trading hub and centre of Sufi Islam, a branch of the religion seen as idolatrous by some hard-line Muslim groups.
    Because al-Mahdi is in jail and cannot afford to pay the damages, the court has asked the ICC's Trust Fund for Victims to do so. The money will go to the Timbuktu community in the form of educational programmes, economic aid schemes and possibly a memorial.
    Judge Raul Pangalangan told the court in The Hague that action such as the attacks on the shrines destroyed "part of humanity's shared memory."
    The three-strong panel of judges also said that a smaller number of individual reparations would be determined later for people whose livelihoods depended exclusively on the destroyed sites, and for direct descendants of the saints buried in the damaged tombs.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register