The HAGUE: The destruction of shrines in Mali’s fabled city of Timbuktu was a result of the “negligence” of the west African country’s French colonizers, the International Criminal Court heard Monday.
A police chief who is accused of playing a pivotal role during the 2012-13 extremist occupation of the city, known as the “Pearl of the Desert,” is on trial at The Hague-based tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“The events of 2012 are the result of corruption and the negligence of the French colonizers,” said Melinda Taylor, defending Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud.
“The state of Mali was a fiction created by French colonizers that existed on paper, but never in reality,” Taylor told the judges on the opening day.
The French left the “north of the country to fend for themselves,” according to tribal and religious practices, the lawyer said.
Timbuktu was occupied by the extremist group Ansar Dine, one of the Al-Qaeda-linked factions which controlled Mali in 2012 before being driven out by a French-led international intervention.
During the occupation, the extremists also took pickaxes to 14 of the town’s famous mausoleums of revered Muslim figures.
Al Hassan however “should not be convicted because he happened to live in the wrong place at the wrong time and because of his ethnicity,” said Taylor.
“The question is not whether these crimes were committed in Timbuktu but whether this person sitting in front of you should bear the responsibility for these crimes,” she added.
Prosecutors say Al Hassan, 44, was a key figure in the police and court system set up by the militants after they exploited an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012 to take over cities in Mali’s volatile north.
Al Hassan committed “unimaginable crimes,” personally overseeing corporal punishments, including floggings and amputations as well as arranging for women and girls to be forced to marry militants as part of a system of gender-based persecution, prosecutors said.
He is the second extremist to face trial at the ICC for the destruction of the Timbuktu’s shrines, following a landmark 2016 ruling at the world’s only permanent war crimes court.
ICC judges found Ahmad Al-Faqi Al-Mahdi guilty of directing attacks on the UNESCO World Heritage site and sentenced him to nine years in jail.
Timbuktu destruction due to French negligence: lawyer
https://arab.news/v4fv8
Timbuktu destruction due to French negligence: lawyer
- Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud is on trial at The Hague-based tribunal for war crimes and crimes against humanity
- Al Hassan’s lawyer Melinda Taylor: ‘The state of Mali was a fiction created by French colonizers that existed on paper, but never in reality’
Indonesia to buy Indian-Russian missile system for coastal defense
- BrahMos missile is one of world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles
- Indonesian government has been working to upgrade its aging military hardware
JAKARTA: Indonesia has agreed to purchase a supersonic missile system from a Russian-Indian company to strengthen security on its coastline, the Ministry of Defense confirmed on Tuesday.
The BrahMos missile is one of the world’s fastest supersonic cruise missiles. It can reach speeds of Mach 2.8, or nearly three times the speed of sound, and be launched from submarines, ships, aircraft or land.
It was developed by BrahMos Aerospace, a joint venture between the Indian military research and development agency DRDO and Russian weapons manufacturer NPO Mashinostroyeniya.
“Indonesia has partnered with India to strengthen our defense technology and industry,” Rico Ricardo Sirait, spokesperson for the Indonesian Defense Ministry, told Arab News on Tuesday.
“This includes (the procurement of) the BrahMos missile system to beef up our coastal defense, as part of efforts to modernize our weaponry.”
He declined to disclose more information about the deal.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic state with around 18,000 islands and over 7.9 million sq. km of sea, is the latest Southeast Asian nation to acquire the weapons.
In 2022, the Philippines closed a $374 million deal to acquire three BrahMos anti-ship missile batteries, while Vietnam has reportedly been in talks to purchase the weapons system.
Jakarta has been working to upgrade the country’s aging military hardware in recent years, setting aside big budgets for defense spending.
In January, three Rafale fighter jets arrived in Pekanbaru, Riau, from France, marking the first batch of deliveries of a multi-billion-dollar defense deal between the two countries. The next batch is expected to reach Indonesia later this year.
Last year, Indonesia and Turkiye signed a number of defense deals, including an agreement to set up a jointly operated drone factory and the purchase of KAAN fighter jets.
