The International Criminal Court investigation in Mali or the Situation in the Republic of Mali is an ongoing investigation by the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals ...

(ICC) into war crimes and other crimes within the ICC's jurisdiction that are alleged to have occurred during the

Northern Mali conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

since January 2012. The investigation was requested by the government of

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

in July 2012. As the first person who pleaded guilty to a charge of the ICC, al-Mahdi made a statement expressing remorse and advising others not to commit similar acts. On 27 September 2016, al-Mahdi was sentenced to nine years in prison for the destruction of cultural world heritage in the Malian city of

Timbuktu Timbuktu ( ; french: Tombouctou; Koyra Chiini: ); tmh, label=Tuareg, script=Tfng, ⵜⵏⴱⴾⵜ, Tin Buqt a city in Mali, situated north of the Niger River. The town is the capital of the Tombouctou Region, one of the eight administrativ ...

. At least nine mausoleums and one mosque were destroyed.Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi: The vandal of Timbuktu
BBC News (September 27, 2016).

Background

Several human rights organisations reported on human rights abuses during the Northern Mali conflict that started in early 2012. The

International Federation for Human Rights The International Federation for Human Rights (french: Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'homme; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international h ...

(FIDH) and its Malian member organisation

Association Malienne des Droits de l'Homme Association Malienne des Droits de l'Homme (AMDH) is a Malian non-profit human rights non-governmental organization founded in Bamako, Mali on 11 December 1988. Leadership Moustapha Cisse was President of the AMDH in 2006. , Moctat Mariko holds t ...

(AMDH) published a detailed report in December 2012, referring to evidence of a rape campaign in

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

and

after their takeover by the

National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad or the Azawad National Liberation Movement (Tamasheq: '; ar, الحركة الوطنية لتحرير أزواد ''al-Ḥarakat al-Waṭaniyat Litaḥrīr ʾĀzawād''; french: Mouvement nati ...

(MNLA), recruitment of 12- to 15-year-old children as

child soldier Children (defined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child as people under the age of 18) have been recruited for participation in military operations and campaigns throughout history and in many cultures. Children in the military, includ ...

s by

Ansar Dine Ansar Dine ( ar, أنصار الدين ''ʾAnṣār ad-Dīn'', also transliterated ''Ançar Deen''; meaning " helpers of the religion" (Islam) also known as Ansar al-Din (abbreviated as AAD) was a Salafi jihadist group led by Iyad Ag Ghaly. Ans ...

, and the

summary execution A summary execution is an execution in which a person is accused of a crime and immediately killed without the benefit of a full and fair trial. Executions as the result of summary justice (such as a drumhead court-martial) are sometimes include ...

of up to 153 Malian soldiers by the MNLA and Ansar Dine on 24 January 2012.

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

reported the use of "several hundred" child soldiers by the

Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa The Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (abbreviated MOJWA) or the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (abbreviated MUJWA; ar, جماعة التوحيد والجهاد في غرب أفريقيا ''Jamāʿat at-tawḥīd wal-jih ...

(MUJAO), and

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في بلاد المغرب الإسلامي, Tanẓīm al-Qā'idah fī Bilād al-Maghrib al-Islāmī), or AQIM, is an Islamist militant organization (of al-Qaeda) that aims t ...

(AQIM).

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

published a detailed report in May 2012, describing the human rights situation as "Mali's worst human rights situation in 50 years".

Referral

On 13 July 2012, the government of Mali, represented by its Minister of Justice Malick Coulibaly, made a formal request to the ICC to investigate war crimes and

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

that took place in Mali since January 2012.

Investigation

The ICC's Office of the Prosecutor gathered evidence, and on 16 January 2013, the Court formally started a full investigation led by

Chief Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...

Fatou Bensouda Fatou Bom Bensouda (; ; born 31 January 1961) is a Gambian lawyer and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). She served as Prosecutor from June 2012 to June 2021, after having ...

. Bensouda has determined that there is a reasonable basis to believe the following crimes were committed during the conflict: (i) murder; (ii) mutilation, cruel treatment and torture; (iii) intentionally directing attacks against protected objects; (iv) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court; (v) pillaging, and (vi) rape. The 16 January 2013 ICC report listed evidence for suspected crimes that include some attributed to the MNLA, such as the executions at Aguelhok of about 100 Malian army soldiers on 24 January 2012, and some attributed to the Malian army, such as the Diabaly September 2012 massacre of 16 unarmed preachers.

Cases

Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi

On 18 September 2015, the court issued an arrest warrant for Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who was accused of the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, specifically the mausoleums and mosques located in

. They were destroyed by members of

and other Islamist groups in 2012. On 26 September 2015, he was sent from

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesThe Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

. On 27 September 2016, al-Mahdi was sentenced to nine years in prison for the destruction of cultural world heritage in the Malian city of

Al Hassan

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, born on 19 September 1977, was allegedly a member of Ansar Dine and the de facto chief of the Islamic Police. He has also been allegedly involved in the work of the Islamic court in Timbuktu and in executing its decisions. Al Hassan is currently being charged for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Timbuktu, Mali, for allegedly participating in a widespread and systematic attack by armed groups against the civilian population of Timbuktu and its region, between 1 April 2012 and 28 January 2013. He is also being charged for war crimes allegedly committed in Timbuktu, Mali, between April 2012 and January 2013.

References

External links

Situation in the Republic of Mali
nbsp;– International Criminal Court {{International Criminal Court 2012 in Mali 2013 in Mali

Mali War Politics of Mali