The International Criminal Court (ICC) has sentenced the former head of the Islamic police in Mali’s historic city of Timbuktu to 10 years in prison for war crimes.
Prosecutors said al-Hasan Ag Abdulaziz and Mohammed Ag Mahmoud led a “reign of terror” in the city after the al-Qaida-linked Ansar Deen group took over the city in 2012.
He was convicted of torture in June this year, overseeing public floggings and brutal floggings of residents, including children.
He was acquitted of charges of rape and sexual slavery, as well as the destruction of ancient tombs in Timbuktu.
Hassan was handed over to the ICC by Malian authorities in 2018 – five years after French troops helped liberate Timbuktu from jihadists.
Ansar Din was one of several Islamist militant groups that took advantage of the Tuareg ethnic uprising to seize control of cities in northern Mali.
Another Islamist militant leader who destroyed ancient shrines in Timbuktu was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2016.
Ahmed al-Faki al-Mahdi confessed in 2012 to leading fighters in the destruction of historic tombs at a World Heritage site in Mali.
Timbuktu was a major center of Islamic learning between the 13th and 17th centuries and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988.
