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posted by CoolHand on Wednesday September 28 2016, @01:23AM   Printer-friendly
from the trying-to-keep-our-stuff dept.

A "remorseful" Islamist has admitted to destroying shrines at a world heritage site in Timbuktu, and received a nine year prison sentence. It is the International Criminal Court's first conviction for "cultural destruction":

The International Criminal Court has sentenced an Islamist militant who destroyed ancient shrines in Timbuktu to nine years in jail. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi admitted to leading rebel forces who destroyed historic mausoleums at the world heritage site in Mali in 2012. Judges at the court in The Hague found he had shown "remorse and empathy" for the crime. It is the first sentence based on cultural destruction as a war crime.

[...] Mahdi - described as a "religious scholar" in court documents - led rebels who used pickaxes and crowbars to destroy nine of Timbuktu's mausoleums and the centuries-old door of the city's Sidi Yahia mosque. The court found he not only offered "logistical and moral support" for the attacks, but also took part in the physical destruction of at least five out of the 10 buildings. However, Mahdi had at first advised rebel leaders not to attack the shrines. Admitting to the charges last month, Mahdi claimed he had been swept up in "an evil wave". Pleading guilty, he said: "I am really sorry, I am really remorseful, and I regret all the damage that my actions have caused. I would like to give a piece of advice to all Muslims in the world, not to get involved in the same acts I got involved in, because they are not going to lead to any good for humanity," he added.

Also at NPR. The presiding judge in the case hopes the sentence will deter attacks on other world heritage sites.


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by frojack on Wednesday September 28 2016, @02:18AM

    by frojack (1554) on Wednesday September 28 2016, @02:18AM (#407157) Journal

    Perhaps the Iraqis who looted them.
    They were empty before US troops even reached the city, and no one knew where the stuff went.

    But nice try.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @02:37AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 28 2016, @02:37AM (#407161)

    There would be no looting without buyers.

  • (Score: 4, Touché) by aristarchus on Wednesday September 28 2016, @04:20AM

    by aristarchus (2645) on Wednesday September 28 2016, @04:20AM (#407188) Journal

    They were empty before US troops even reached the city,

    First Gulf War.

    But nice try.

    I guess we all try, as best we can. Not sure whether this faux pas lies with the poster who meant the Second Gulf War, or the respondents who did not notice what was written, or Brian Williams for thinking it was he that was being looted.