Ahmad al-Mahdi

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Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi (also known as Abu Tourab) is an alleged member of Ansar Dine, a Tuareg Islamic extremist militia in North Africa, who was indicted in 2015 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the war crime of attacking religious and historical buildings in the Malian city of Timbuktu.

Biography

According to the ICC, al-Faqi was born in Agoune, Mali, which is about 100 km west of Timbuktu. He is an ethnic Tuareg and during the Northern Mali conflict that began in 2012, he was a member of Ansar Dine. Al-Faqi is alleged to have worked closely with the leaders of Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb when the two groups controlled Timbuktu. Specifically, he enforced decisions of the Islamic Court of Timbuktu and from May to September 2012, he ran the "Manners' Brigade".[1]

ICC charges

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Main article: International Criminal Court investigation in Mali

The ICC opened a formal investigation in Mali on 16 January 2013 to investigate alleged crimes that occurred since January 2012 in the context of an armed conflict in the north of the country.[2] The Court issued an arrest warrant for al-Faqi on 18 September 2015. The arrest warrant alleges that from about 30 June 2012 to 10 July 2012 in Timbuktu, al-Faqi committed the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against historical monuments or buildings dedicated to religion. The case against al-Faqi represented the first time the ICC had indicted an individual for war crimes associated with attacking religious buildings or historical monuments and it was the first case before the ICC arising out of the situation in Mali.[1] The arrest warrant lists ten monuments in Timbuktu, at least one of which is a World Heritage Site, that al-Faqi allegedly attacked:[1]

  1. Mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud Ben Omar Mohamed Aquit
  2. Mausoleum of Sheikh Mohamed Mahmoud al-Arawani
  3. Mausoleum of Sheikh Sidi Mokhtar Ben Sidi Muhammad Ben Sheikh Alkabir
  4. Mausoleum of Alpha Moya
  5. Mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar
  6. Mausoleum of Sheikh Muhammad El Micky
  7. Mausoleum of Cheick Abdoul Kassim Attouaty
  8. Mausoleum of Ahamed Fulane
  9. Mausoleum of Bahaber Babadié
  10. Sidi Yahya Mosque

On 26 September 2015, al-Faqi was surrendered to the Court by the government of Niger and transferred to the Court's detention center in The Hague, Netherlands.[1]

References

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