THE International Criminal Court has convicted an al-Qaida-linked jihadist leader of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Mali’s desert city of Timbuktu.

Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was accused of playing a key role in a reign of terror unleashed by insurgents in the historic city in 2012.

He was accused of involvement in crimes including rape, torture, persecution, forced marriages and sexual slavery and could face life imprisonment when sentenced at a later date.

Prosecutors say Mr Hassan was a key member of Ansar Dine, an Islamist extremist group with links to al-Qaida that held power in northern Mali at the time.

Women and girls in particular suffered under Ansar Dine’s repressive regime, facing corporal punishment and imprisonment, the court’s then-chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said at the start of Mr Hassan’s trial nearly four years ago.

“Many were forced into marriage,” she said, “confined against their will and repeatedly raped by members of the armed group.”

Mr Hassan was involved in organising such marriages, the prosecutor told judges.

She cited one rape victim as saying: “All that was left of me was a corpse.”

Defence lawyer Melinda Taylor told judges that Mr Hassan was a member of the Islamic police force who was “obliged to respect and execute the decisions of the Islamic tribunal. This is what the police around the world do.”

In Timbuktu, victims of Ansar Dine’s crimes were looking forward to the verdicts and possible compensation.

“We are waiting and hoping for a judgement that will give us justice,” said Yehia Hamma Cisse, president of a group of victims’ associations in the Timbuktu region.

“Members of our associations have been raped, had their hands cut off, been whipped, and we would like to be compensated,” he said.

The court made a reparation order following the 2016 conviction of Ansar Dine member Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for attacking nine mausoleums and a mosque door in Timbuktu in 2012.

A French-led military operation in 2013 forced Mr Hassan and others from power.

Mali, along with neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger, has for over a decade battled an insurgency by armed groups, including some allied with al-Qaida and the Islamic State (Isis) group.

Following military coups in all three nations in recent years, the ruling juntas have expelled French forces and turned to Russian mercenary units for security assistance instead.

Colonel Assimi Goita, who took charge in Mali after a second coup in 2021, promised to return the country to democracy early this year.

But last September, the junta indefinitely postponed elections scheduled for February, citing the need for further technical preparations.

The verdicts in Mr Hassan’s case were delayed by some six months due to one of the trial judges falling ill.