Trial of a Malian jihadist before the ICC: first witness for the defense

Malian jihadist Al Hassan Ag Abdoulaziz 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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1 min

Abdulaziz al-Hassan's trial continues at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The commissioner of the Islamic police in Timbuktu, northern Mali, between 2012 and 2013, is appearing for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

At the time, the city was occupied by the Islamist groups Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

This Tuesday, May 10, 2022, the defense questioned its first witness.

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This is Dr. Catherine Porter Field, psychologist at New York University, specialist in post-traumatic stress in victims of torture.

This is one of the axes

during the introductory remarks.

A “Malian Guantanamo”

Maître Melinda Taylor, repeatedly recalled the conditions of al-Hassan's detention at the Bamako State Security Prison before being handed over to the ICC in 2018. The lawyer had described her as "Guantanamo Malian”.

This morning, we heard Dr. Porter Field enumerate the abuse suffered by al-Hassan: beatings, simulated drowning, threats of sexual abuse and execution… According to her, the former member of the police Islamic has since suffered from severe post-traumatic stress which affects his daily life.

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Random Insinuations

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And this is where the defense comes in, questioning the validity of the interrogations that al-Hassan may have undergone, even after 2018 and even in a context of the rule of law, given his traumas.

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 ”, according to the prosecutor who attempted an objection rejected by the judge.

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