More than 65,000 victims of a Malian Islamist who was a key figure in the police force that imposed sharia law on Timbuktu in 2012 and ordered public floggings and other punishments, should receive a combined 7.25 million euros ($8.5 million) in compensation, International Criminal Court judges said on Tuesday.
The reparations will largely be in the form of collective rehabilitation measures including educational programs and training and psychological support, focused particularly on women and girls who were victimised by Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz, the judges said.
Women and girls suffered persecution – one of the crimes for which Al Hassan was convicted – as their lives were the most closely controlled by the Islamic police. They were only allowed to leave their homes if they wore particular clothing, and many came to dread going outdoors, the judges said.
Al Hassan, who was convicted in June 2024 of eight counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, could not pay the reparations himself, judges said, and they asked the court’s Trust Fund for Victims to help cover the costs. Reparations are an integral part of ICC cases after convictions, and there are currently reparations ordered in five other cases that are being provided to victims by the Trust Fund for Victims.
Al Hassan was sentenced to 10 years in prison for helping run the Islamic police set up by the Ansar Dine Islamist group after the city on the fringe of the Sahara desert was captured by militants. Having been in custody for about six years by the time of his conviction, Al Hassan is expected to be freed soon.
According to judges, while in Timbuktu he took part in or was present at many public floggings which were deeply traumatising for victims and onlookers.
The Trust Fund for Victims has been given until next January to prepare a plan to implement the compensation measures, which must be approved by judges.
The ICC, the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal, has been examining events in Mali since 2012. French and Malian troops pushed the rebels out of the city the following year.
