THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court on Wednesday said it would sentence in November a Malian militant police chief convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Timbuktu.
Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 46, was found guilty in June of crimes including torture and outrages upon personal dignity during a reign of terror in the fabled Malian city.
Al Hassan played a “key role” overseeing amputations and floggings as police chief when militants from the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine groups seized control of Timbuktu for almost a year from early 2012, a judge previously said.
“The judges may impose a prison sentence of maximum 30 years or, when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime and the individual circumstances of the convicted person, life imprisonment,” the ICC said in a statement.
“They may also add a fine or forfeiture of the proceeds, property and assets derived directly or indirectly from the crime committed.”
The Hague-based court will sentence Al Hassan on November 20 from 2 p.m. local time (1300 GMT), according to the statement.
Notices of appeal against verdict were filed in September by both the defendant’s legal team and the prosecutor.
Al Hassan was also convicted of “contributing to the crimes perpetrated by other members” of the militant groups including mutilation and persecution.
He told investigators that the people of Timbuktu were “scared out of their minds,” according to the prosecutor.
The militant was however acquitted of the war crimes of rape and sexual slavery, as well as the crime against humanity of forced marriage.
Founded between the fifth and 12th centuries by Tuareg tribes, Timbuktu is known as the “Pearl of the Desert” and “The City of 333 Saints” for the number of Muslim sages buried there during a golden age of Islam.
But militants who swept into the city considered the shrines idolatrous and destroyed them with pickaxes and bulldozers.
The militants from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar Dine exploited an ethnic Tuareg uprising in 2012 to take over cities in Mali’s volatile north.
The ICC in June made public an arrest warrant for one of the Sahel’s top militant leaders over alleged atrocities in Timbuktu from 2012 to 2013.
Iyad Ag Ghaly, is considered to be the leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), which operates in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.
ICC to sentence Mali militant in November over war crimes
https://arab.news/bnxw3
ICC to sentence Mali militant in November over war crimes
- “The judges may impose a prison sentence of maximum 30 years or, when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime,” the ICC said
- The Hague-based court will sentence Al Hassan on November 20 from 2 p.m. local time
Trump administration labels 3 Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorist organizations
- The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization
- “These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence,” Rubio said
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for US relationships with allies Qatar and Turkiye.
The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which US officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence.
Trump’s executive order had singled out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, noting that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan have provided support to Hamas, the order said.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said some allies of the US, including the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, would likely be pleased with the designation.
“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkiye, he said.
Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the US but also Western European countries and Canada.
“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.
Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.
Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.
