Timbuktu destruction suspect at ICC

A suspected Islamist militant accused of destroying cultural sites in Timbuktu has appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC), in the first case of its kind. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi is suspected of war crimes over the destruction of nine mausoleums and a mosque in the ancient Malian city in 2012. He was handed over by […]

A suspected Islamist militant accused of destroying cultural sites in Timbuktu has appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC), in the first case of its kind.
Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi is suspected of war crimes over the destruction of nine mausoleums and a mosque in the ancient Malian city in 2012.
He was handed over by Niger after the ICC issued a warrant for his arrest.
Wearing a navy-blue suit and wire-rimmed spectacles, Mr Faqi told the court: “My name is Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, I am from the al-Ansar Tuareg tribe.”
He told the court he was born “about 40 years ago” in Agoune, 100km west of Timbuktu, and was a “graduate of the teachers’ institute in Timbuktu and… a civil servant in education in the Malian government beginning 2011”.
He said he wished to be spoken to in Arabic, but gave no other statement during the proceedings at which the charges were read out.
The judge said the next hearing would be on 18 January.