Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag
Mohamed Ag Mahmoud ("Al Hassan"), a Malian national born on 19
September 1977, faced ICC charges of sexual and gender-based crimes. On 4 April 2018, he made his first
appearance before the ICC after the Pre-trial Chamber issued the arrest warrant
for him on 27 March 2018. The confirmation of charges hearing was scheduled
provisionally for 24 September 2018. The case against AI Hassan was recorded
under the ICC Mali situation, which was referred by the government of Mali to
the ICC to investigate alleged crimes committed on the territory of Mali by its
nationals since January 2012. This is also the second case in Mali situation
after the case against Mr. AI Mahdi, who among a long list of charges was also
declared guilty of the war crime of attacking religious and historic buildings
in Timbuktu, Mali, in June and July 2012, and was sentenced 9 years’ of
imprisonment for his commission of crime.
According to the arrest
warrant, Mr. Al Hassan is alleged to have been involved in the activities of
armed groups AI-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb ("AQIM") and Ansar
Eddine which took control of the city of Timbuktu. He is alleged to have
committed crimes and religious and gender-based persecution against the
civilian population in Timbuktu. Specifically, the Pre-Trial Chamber has
concluded that the evidence submitted by the Office of the Prosecutor is
sufficient enough to provide reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. AI Hassan
has committed crimes against humanity (torture, rape and sexual slavery;
persecution of the inhabitants of Timbuktu on religious and gender grounds; and
other inhumane acts) and war crimes (rape and sexual slavery; violence to
person and outrages upon personal dignity; and attacks intentionally directed
against buildings dedicated to religion and historic monument in Timbuktu,
Mali, between 2012 and 2013. He is further charged with arbitrary punishment of
civilians without trial in Timbuktu who broke the rules and prohibitions
imposed by those armed groups. These requirements affect all areas of public
life.
In particular, the case
against Mr. AI Hassan shows ICC’s commitment to prosecute sexual and
gender-based violence and to protect the interests of victims and witnesses of
such crimes, which is a very important subject to many Americans who feel
deeply about it. The Rome Statute is the first international treaty permanently
enforcing international law about various forms of sexual and gender-based
crimes, including rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced
pregnancy, enforced sterilization, and other forms of sexual violence.
Recognizing the enormous obstacles and challenges to the effective
investigation and prosecution of these crimes, the Prosecutor has included this
issue as strategic goals in her Strategic Plan 2012-2015. In addition, The
Office of the Prosecutor Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes
launched in June 2014 affirms the commitment of the Office to paying special attention
to sexual and gender-based crimes in line with statutory provisions and
provides clear and comprehensive guidance on issues regarding with sexual and
gender-based crimes in all aspects of operations.
Written by Yixuan Ouyang
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