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.
Islamists occupied the city until they were ousted by French forces in 2013.
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 (60 miles) 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, where a decision would be taken whether to put the suspect on trial.
Treasures of Timbuktu
- Timbuktu was a centre of Islamic learning from the 13th to the 17th Centuries
- 700,000 manuscripts had survived in public libraries and private collections
- Books on religion, law, literature and science
- Added to Unesco world heritage list in 1988 for its three mosques and 16 cemeteries and mausoleums
- They played a major role in spreading Islam in West Africa; the oldest dates from 1329
- Islamists destroyed mausoleums after seizing the city in April 2012
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