Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, the first person convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes against world cultural heritage

Timbuktu is known as the City of 333 Saints. During its golden age in the 15th and 16th centuries, it was a centre for Islamic learning. Ho- wever the site is viewed as idolatrous by Islamic extremists, the wor-shipping of mausoleums in Timbuktu and across Mali is part of a Sufi tradition in Islam. A religious scholar, Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi was the spiritual adviser of the Ansar Dine group, which attacked nine mauso-leums and the Sidi Yahia mosque in Timbuktu when it seized the city along with a coalition of militant factions. As commander of the Hisba, the religious police, Al Mahdi was charged with ordering and overseeing the destruction of the shrines. For the first time, the International Cri-minal Court has put someone on trial for war crimes against cultural heritage. On September 27, 2016, the ICC rendered its judgment in the case Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, wherein the defendant was convicted of the war crime of intentionally directing attacks on protected cultural objects. Al Mahdi pled guilty to co-perpetrating attacks on protected objects pursuant to Article 8(2)(e)(iv) of the Rome Statute for his role in the attack on, and destruction of, ten mosques and mausoleums in Timbuktu. The Trial Chamber sentenced him to nine years in prison.