(22 Aug 2016) Residents and officials in the Malian town of Timbuktu said they were grateful that a man accused of leading the destruction of city's ancient tombs was facing justice.
An Islamic extremist pleaded guilty on Monday at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and expressed "deep regret" for destroying historic mausoleums in the Malian desert city.
Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi led a group of radicals that destroyed 14 of Timbuktu's 16 mausoleums in 2012 because they considered them totems of idolatry.
The one-room structures that house the tombs of the city's great thinkers were on the World Heritage list.
Al Mahdi was the first suspect to face an ICC charge of deliberately attacking religious or historical monuments and became the first person to plead guilty at the court since its establishment in 2002.
Prosecutors say Al Mahdi was a member of Ansar Dine, an Islamic extremist group with links to al-Qaida that held power in northern Mali in 2012.
The militants were driven out after nearly a year by French forces, which arrested Al Mahdi in 2014 in neighbuoring Niger.
His trial is scheduled to last a week, with prosecutors presenting judges with evidence of the crimes and his defence lawyer also planning a presentation.
Judges will issue a formal verdict and pass sentence at a later hearing.
Al Mahdi faces a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment, but prosecutors say they will seek a sentence of nine to 11 years.
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