THE HAGUE: War crimes judges said on Thursday that a Malian jihadist was liable for 2.7 million euros in personal damages for destroying Timbuktu’s fabled shrines in 2012, as they ordered reparations in a landmark ruling.

The International Criminal Court ordered that the victims of the razing of the fabled west African city’s historic treasures be paid “individual, collective and symbolic” reparations.

But the judges at the Hague-based tribunal also recognised that Ahmad Al-Faqi Al-Mahdi — jailed last September for nine years — was penniless, saying it was now up to the Trust Fund for Victims to decide how the outstanding amount will have to be paid.

The fund was created in 2004 by the ICC’s state parties, aiming to address harms resulting from genocide, crimes of humanity and war crimes.

It implements any reparations ordered by the court — including financial payments — and helps victims. Funding comes from public and private donors as well as court-ordered fines and forfeitures.

The fund now has until February 16 to come up with a plan for how to implement Thursday’s reparations award.

The judges stressed that just because Mahdi had no money, it did not absolve him from paying, saying they “disagreed that Mr Al Mahdi’s indigence has an impact on (the) reparations award.” Judges further ordered the Malian state and the international community be compensated with a symbolic amount of one euro each for damages suffered.

Jihadists used pickaxes and bulldozers against nine mausoleums and the centuries-old door of the Sidi Yahya mosque, part of a golden age of Islam after over-running northern Mali in 2012.

Timbuktu, founded by Tuareg tribes between the fifth and 12th centuries, has been nicknamed “the city of 333 saints,” referring to the number of Muslim sages buried there.

During a halcyon period in the 15th and 16th century, the city was revered as a centre of Islamic learning — but for 21st century Muslim fanatics, its moderate form of Islam was idolatrous.

The assault on the Unesco world heritage site triggered global opprobrium, but also led to a legal precedent.

Mahdi’s case was the first to come before the Hague-based ICC as a crime of cultural destruction.

He was jailed for nine years in 2016 after he pleaded guilty to directing attacks on the world heritage site and apologised to the Timbuktu community.

The destruction of the shrines carried “a message of terror and helplessness and destroyed part of humanity’s shared memory and collective consciousness,” judge Raul Pangalangan said.

According to the court’s 1998 founding accord, the Rome Statute, judges can determine that victims are entitled to reparations including “restitution, compensation and rehabilitation.” The court can also hand out an order directly against a convicted person, demanding similar reparations.

Thursday’s award will now be closely scrutinised, given concern about whether substantial funds can be secured, and the time it will take to reach victims.

The security situation in northern Mali “poses serious challenges,” the Trust Fund for Victims has warned.

Rights groups welcomed the ruling, but said it remained a “drop in the ocean” compared to all human rights abuses that happened at Timbuktu. “It remains difficult to identify each victim in a situation like this,” added Kyra Wigard, a permanent representative of the International Federation for Human Rights at the court.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2017