ICC awards millions for Mali war crimes victims

Malian militant Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud has been found financially liable for the cost of the harm caused to victims, Judge Kimberly Prost has said

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has awarded €7.2 million (about $8.4 million) in reparations to victims of an Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist leader convicted of atrocities in northern Mali more than a decade ago.

Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud, 49, a former Islamic police chief, was convicted in 2024 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including torture, sexual slavery, and religious persecution, committed during the period when armed groups associated with Al-Qaeda controlled the city of Timbuktu from 2012 to 2013. He was sentenced to ten years in prison.

“Al Hassan, as the person found responsible for the crimes which caused the harm to the victims, is the person financially liable for the cost of repairing the harm,” presiding Judge Kimberly Prost said.

Although Al-Hassan was found financially liable for the harm caused, he was declared indigent and unable to pay. As a result, the compensation will be covered by the Trust Fund for Victims, a body established by the Rome Statute. The funds will cover psychological support, vocational training, education, and socio-economic programs for the victims, with a particular focus on women and girls who were disproportionately affected by the abuses, court documents show.

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More than 65,000 victims are expected to benefit from the planned reparations, which also includes community-based rehabilitation measures.

The case was initiated by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC following a request from Mali’s government, which referred the situation in northern Mali to the court in 2012.

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The former French colony has been embroiled in a deadly insurgency for over a decade, driven by multiple armed groups, including affiliates of Al-Qaeda and ISIS operating in the Sahel region. On April 25, armed groups targeted the country’s capital, Bamako, as well as other cities including Kati, Gao, Sevare, and Kidal, in what the authorities have labelled an attempted coup. Malian Defense Minister General Sadio Camara died from injuries sustained after a suicide car bombing hit his residence during the raid.

Tuesday’s ruling marks the second ICC reparations order for victims in Mali, following the 2016 conviction of Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who was sentenced for being a “co-perpetrator of the war crime” involving the intentional destruction of religious and historic monuments in Timbuktu.