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.
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ICC to sentence Mali militant in November over war crimes
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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
Australian bushfires raze homes in two states; firefighter dies
- Sixteen homes lost on Central Coast region in New South Wales
- Tasmania 700-hectare blaze destroys 19 homes at Dolphin Sands
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: An Australian firefighter was killed overnight after he was struck by a tree while trying to control a bushfire that had destroyed homes and burnt large swathes of bushland north of Sydney, authorities said on Monday.
Emergency crews rushed to bushland near the rural town of Bulahdelah, 200 kilometers north of Sydney, after reports that a tree had fallen on a man. The 59-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and died at the scene, officials said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the “terrible news is a somber reminder” of the dangers faced by emergency services personnel as they work to protect homes and families.
“We honor that bravery, every day,” Albanese said in a statement.
A fast-moving fire over the weekend destroyed 16 homes in New South Wales state’s Central Coast region, home to about 350,000 people and a commuter region just north of Sydney.
Resident Rouchelle Doust, from the hard-hit town of Koolewong, said she and her husband tried to save their home as flames advanced.
“He’s up there in his bare feet trying to put it out, and he’s trying and trying, and I’m screaming at him to come down,” Doust told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“Everything’s in it: his grandmother’s stuff, his mother’s stuff, all my stuff — everything, it’s all gone, the whole lot.”
Conditions eased overnight, allowing officials to downgrade fire danger alerts, though the weather bureau warned some inland towns in the state could hit more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, raising fire dangers.
More than 50 bushfires were burning across New South Wales as of Monday.
On the island state of Tasmania, a 700-hectare blaze at Dolphin Sands, about 150km northeast of the state capital of Hobart, destroyed 19 homes and damaged 40. The fire has been contained, but residents have been warned not to return as conditions remain dangerous, officials said.
Authorities have warned of a high-risk bushfire season during Australia’s summer months from December to February, with increased chances of extreme heat across large parts of the country following several relatively quiet years.
New Zealand national park fire
In neighboring New Zealand, five helicopters and multiple crews were working to put out a fire near the country’s oldest national park, a month after a wildfire burnt through 2,589 hectares of alpine bush there.
Police said they had closed a road near the state highway and advised motorists to avoid the area and expect delays, after the blaze near Tongariro National Park, a popular hiking spot, spread to 110 hectares by Monday afternoon.
Emergency crews rushed to bushland near the rural town of Bulahdelah, 200 kilometers north of Sydney, after reports that a tree had fallen on a man. The 59-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest and died at the scene, officials said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the “terrible news is a somber reminder” of the dangers faced by emergency services personnel as they work to protect homes and families.
“We honor that bravery, every day,” Albanese said in a statement.
A fast-moving fire over the weekend destroyed 16 homes in New South Wales state’s Central Coast region, home to about 350,000 people and a commuter region just north of Sydney.
Resident Rouchelle Doust, from the hard-hit town of Koolewong, said she and her husband tried to save their home as flames advanced.
“He’s up there in his bare feet trying to put it out, and he’s trying and trying, and I’m screaming at him to come down,” Doust told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“Everything’s in it: his grandmother’s stuff, his mother’s stuff, all my stuff — everything, it’s all gone, the whole lot.”
Conditions eased overnight, allowing officials to downgrade fire danger alerts, though the weather bureau warned some inland towns in the state could hit more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, raising fire dangers.
More than 50 bushfires were burning across New South Wales as of Monday.
On the island state of Tasmania, a 700-hectare blaze at Dolphin Sands, about 150km northeast of the state capital of Hobart, destroyed 19 homes and damaged 40. The fire has been contained, but residents have been warned not to return as conditions remain dangerous, officials said.
Authorities have warned of a high-risk bushfire season during Australia’s summer months from December to February, with increased chances of extreme heat across large parts of the country following several relatively quiet years.
New Zealand national park fire
In neighboring New Zealand, five helicopters and multiple crews were working to put out a fire near the country’s oldest national park, a month after a wildfire burnt through 2,589 hectares of alpine bush there.
Police said they had closed a road near the state highway and advised motorists to avoid the area and expect delays, after the blaze near Tongariro National Park, a popular hiking spot, spread to 110 hectares by Monday afternoon.
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