Credit: ICC © ICC-CPI /  Al Mahdi in the Courtroom of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, at the opening of the trial in the case The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi in 2017 after his 2016.

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The International Criminal Court (ICC) disclosed  Monday that on 29 August 2018, convicted Mali Islamist art plunderer Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi was transferred to Scotland, United Kingdom, to serve his sentence of imprisonment. The transfer of Mr Al Mahdi was not immediately announced while the Court considered a number of matters related to his safety and security. In 2016,  the ICC sentenced cultural art plunderer Al Mahdi to nine years in prison for his role in the destruction of historic mausoleums in the Malian desert city of Timbuktu. He had previously pled guilty of participating in the destruction of religious and historic buildings in Timbuktu. The ICC accused him of the war crime consisting in the destruction of historical and religious monuments in the West African Malian city Timbuktu, between June 30 2012 and July 11 2012.  This was the first international trial focusing on the destruction of historical and religious monuments; and the first ICC case where the defendant made an admission of guilt.

 In August 2017,  the ICC ruled Thursday that Al Mahdi must pay 2.7 million Euros ($3.2 million) in reparations to the community of Timbuktu for intentionally directing attacks against religious and historic buildings in that city.

Credit: ICC © ICC-CPI /  Al Mahdi in the Courtroom of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands, at the opening of the trial in the case The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi on 22 August 2016.

The ICC said it relies on state support at the enforcement of sentence stage and is highly appreciative of the voluntary cooperation of the Scottish and United Kingdom Governments in respect of Al Mahdi.  According to the ICC, persons convicted by The Hague-based war tribunal serve their sentence in a State designated by the Court from a list of States which have indicated their willingness to allow convicted persons to serve their sentence.  In the present case, the transfer of  Al Mahdi was implemented pursuant to article 103 of the Rome Statute, the Court’s founding treaty, and the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the ICC  on the enforcement of sentences imposed by the Court.

Mosque dating back to the 15th Century among monuments destroyed

Source: whc.unesco.org   Timbuktu (Mali) © UNESCO / Ancient mosque dating back to 15th Century.  The mosque is part of UNESCO World Heritage site. Timbuktu was a center of Islamic learning from the 13th to the 17th Centuries. Islamists destroyed mausoleums after seizing the city in April 2012.

The monuments include the mausoleum Sidi Mahamoud Ben Omar Mohamed Aquit, the mausoleum Sheikh Mohamed Mahmoud Al Arawani, the mausoleum Sheikh Sidi Mokhtar Ben Sidi Muhammad Ben Sheikh Alkabir, and a mosque dating back to the 15th Century. The mosque, Sidi Yahya, was built around 1400 by the marabout Sheik El Moktar Hamalla and is part of the Timbuktu UNESCO World Heritage Site. The maximum sentence for such a crime is 30 years in jail, but Mahdi expressed remorse and struck an agreement with the prosecutor’s office for a sentence of nine to 11 years.

 In a September 2015 statement, Chief ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda declared:  

  “Intentional attacks against historic monuments and buildings dedicated to religion are grave crimes.”  Bensouda further stated that the charges against Al Mahdi involve the most serious crimes.  “They are about the destruction of irreplaceable historic monuments, and they are about a callous assault on the dignity and identity of entire populations, and their religious and historical roots.”