Mali: resumption of the trial of jihadist Al-Hassan in The Hague

Malian jihadist Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud (d) suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Timbuktu in 2012 appears before the ICC on April 4, 2018. Peter Dejong / POOL / AFP

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The trial of the Malian jihadist Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud resumes this Tuesday, September 8, in The Hague.

He is on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

He is accused of having "tyrannized", according to the prosecution, the inhabitants of Timbuktu during the jihadist occupation, in 2012. After two days of hearing, opening on July 14 and 15, the ex-commissioner of the Islamic police of Timbuktu will again face the judges of the ICC.

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It is the prosecutor who should open the hearing.

She will present her evidence and call her first witnesses, says the International Criminal Court, even if the Covid-19 pandemic complicates their hearing.

For Fatou Bensouda, the man who is tried this Tuesday, September 8 was " 

 " of the Islamic police of Timbuktu, in 2012, during the occupation of the city by Aqmi [Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb] and Ansar Dine, two terrorist organizations.

Former veterinary pharmacist

Al-Hassan is said to have conducted patrols to enforce Sharia law.

He also allegedly applied the decisions of the Islamic court by inflicting lashes or other violent treatment himself, according to the prosecution.

Torture, forced marriages, sexual slavery, rape, persecution: in total, 13 charges are brought against the one who was initially a veterinary pharmacist.

Was Al-Hassan really one of the brains of the occupation in Timbuktu?

Or was he a performer, as some observers claim?

The Islamic judge of the time,

, was never tried.

After a few months' imprisonment, he is no longer worried, even if he was placed under UN sanctions last year, with a travel ban.

He is now a school principal and continues to apply Sharia law in the Zouera area, in northern Mali.

► See also: Mali: the trial of the alleged jihadist Al-Hassan opens at the ICC

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• Mali

• Justice

• Terrorism

• International justice

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