Islamic extremist liable for €2.7m in damages for destroying Timbuktu shrine

A ruling by the International Criminal Court sets an important precedent ("Islamic extremist liable for €2.7m in damages for destroying Timbuktu shrine", The Art Newspaper 18 August 2017). Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi an Islamic extremist caused €2.7m in damages when he destroyed shrines in Timbuktu, Mali, in 2012. He has been declared liable to pay that sum.

Islamic extremists used pickaxes and bulldozers to destroy nine mausoleums and the centuries-old door of the Sidi Yahya mosque, built during a golden age of Islam, after a jihadist takeover in northern Mali in 2012, according to Agence France Presse. Calling the attack a “war crime”, the ICC sentenced Al-Mahdi to nine years in jail last September after he pleaded guilty to “intentionally directing” attacks on the Unesco world heritage site. 

This ruling is important because it acknowledges the cultural damage that war can cause. The landmark ruling signals that the destruction of historic sites at Palmyra in Syria and Mosul in Iraq by Isil could also be considered as war crimes by the ICC. There is however a snag, it is possible that this kind of settlement could actually incentivise cultural destruction because poor people could see this as ensuring a payout.