Hague: jihadist apologizes for the destruction of historical monuments in Timbuktu – Onet.pl

Mahdi is accused of that in 2012 ordered the destruction of nine mausoleums and the historic mosque in Timbuktu. These ancient monuments were entered in the 80′s as a World Heritage Site.

“I admit his guilt with deep regret and enormous pain “

– Your Honor, regretfully confirm that everything so far heard is true and reflects the event – Mahdi said after hearing the charges. – Admit guilt with deep regret and immense pain – he added.

Then he said, that asks, Malian nation to forgive him and recognized him as the “son who strayed.”

Mahdi – Malian leader of the radical group Ansar Dine, associated with the regional organization of Al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb – stood trial in connection with the suspicion that it had ordered the destruction of ancient tombs in Timbuktu. It accused him of bringing to the destruction of nine mausoleums of the XI-XII century and Sidi Yahia mosque from the fifteenth century. These objects have been demolished by the Ansar Dine because professed by a group iconoclasm. Total destroyed 14 of the 16 burial sites.

Mahdi is the first jihadist judged by the ICC, and his case fits in led by the Hague tribunal investigation into war crimes committed in Mali during the armed conflict in 2012-2013.

Timbuktu on UNESCO

Located on the river Niger Timbuktu was founded at the turn of the eleventh and the twelfth century by the Tuareg . For centuries, it was a center of trade between Africa and sub-Saharan Berber and Islamic North Africa. It was the capital of several medieval African countries. To the fall of the city contributed in 1591 Morysków invasion, and in 1893 years – the French troops.

In 1988, the Timbuktu was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. In the collection of public and private libraries of Timbuktu were 150 thousand. manuscripts, including part of the thirteenth century, and at a local university in the heyday of the city of science levying 25 thousand. students.

Mali was plunged into chaos in 2012, when affiliated with Al-Qaeda, Islamists exploited the military coup in Bamako to appropriate separatist Tuareg rebellion and seizure desert north of the country. In summer 2013, Mali has been targeted UN forces to help normalize the situation in the north of the country. In Mali, however, still it comes to acts of terror.

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