A influential jihadist from Mali has been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud is said to have played a prominent role in the occupation of the historic Malian desert city of Timbuktu in 2012-2013.
The jihadist leader is accused of involvement in, among other things, rape, torture, persecution, forced marriage, and sexual slavery. Women and children in particular were subjected to great suffering, according to Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
According to the prosecution, the convicted person was highly placed within the Islamist extremist group Ansar Dine, which has close ties to the terrorist organisation al-Qaida.
During the occupation of Timbuktu, a large number of ancient monuments built in the 16th and 17th centuries were also destroyed, as the city was considered a major centre for Islamic learning.
