Jihadist pleads guilty to destroying ancient Timbuktu artifacts
By Tiffany Ap, CNN
Updated
1:19 PM EDT, Mon August 22, 2016
Story highlights
In a first, International Criminal Court lists destroying cultural artifacts as a war crime
The city of Timbuktu in Mali is a UNESCO World Heritage site founded in fifth century
(CNN) —
In a historic first, the International Criminal Court has classified destroying cultural artifacts as a war crime.
It follows the trial of jihadist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who pleaded guilty Monday to destroying religious monuments in the ancient city of Timbuktu in Mali.
“I’m willing to accept the judgment of the chamber, but I will do so with pain and a broken heart,” Mahdi told the court Monday.
Mahdi, also known as “Abou Tourab,” was charged in March in the attacks between June and July 2012. He is believed to be a member of the al Qaeda-affiliated Ansar Dine in Mali, which oversaw the ransacking of the city, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
“Such attacks affect humanity as a whole. We must stand up to the destruction and defacing of our common heritage,” prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in September.
“It is also my hope that the years I will spend in prison will be source to purge the evil spirit that took me and I will keep my hopes high that the people will be able to forgive me,” Mahdi said at his trial.
“I would like to give a piece of advice to the Muslims in the world not to get involved in the kind of acts that I did because it will give no good to humanity.”
Islamist attacks on historic sites
Like ISIS, which has laid waste to the ancient cities of Nimrud and Palmyra in the Middle East, Ansar Dine declared it would establish an Islamist state and enforce strict Sharia law with little room for cultural or religious tolerance. As a result, the terrorist groups have attacked ancient historic monuments and religious shrines.
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Before: The ruins of the 2,000-year-old Temple of Baalshamin are seen in Palmyra, Syria, in 2007. The ISIS militant group took over the ancient city last year and razed parts of its World Heritage Site. Syrian government forces recaptured the ancient city from the terror group in March 2016. Click through to see the landmarks before and after ISIS' occupation.
PHOTO:
DEA/G.DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
After: A Syrian government soldier walks near what's left of the Temple of Baalshamin on Sunday, March 27. Syrian forces retook the city days before, but damage had already been done by ISIS. UNESCO says it plans to evaluate the extent of Palmyra's damage soon. Many of the structures -- which date from the first and second centuries and marry Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences -- remain in place, bolstering hopes that ISIS didn't completely raze the world heritage site.
PHOTO:
Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Before: The Arch of Triumph in 2006.
PHOTO:
Raphael GAILLARDE/GAMMA/Getty Images
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
After: The Arch of Triumph on March 27.
PHOTO:
Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Before: The Temple of Bel in 2008.
PHOTO:
DEA/C. SAPPA/De Agostini/Getty Images
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
After: The Temple of Bel on March 27.
PHOTO:
Valery Sharifulin\TASS via Getty Images
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Destroyed statues are seen inside the damaged Palmyra Museum on March 27.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Many statues in the museum had their faces chipped off -- in keeping with strict Sharia interpretations of the depiction of human forms.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Before ISIS invaded, authorities took what they could from the museum. But larger items and those fixed to walls had to be left behind.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Destroyed statues inside the Palmyra Museum.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
The Syrian directorate-general of antiquities and monuments was positive that the condition of artifacts meant that they could be restored and their "historic value" returned, according to a translation of an article on the department's website.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
ISIS took over Palmyra in May.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
By June, ISIS began destroying historical sites.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Damage inside the Palmyra Museum.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Photos: How ISIS ravaged Palmyra's world treasures
Palmyra was a caravan oasis when Romans overtook it in the mid-first century. In the centuries that followed, the area "stood at the crossroads of several civilizations" with its art and architecture mixing Greek, Roman and Persian influences, according to UNESCO.
PHOTO:
SANA via AP
Timbuktu’s treasure trove
Using pickaxes and iron bars, Ansar Dine destroyed tombs of historic religious figures as well as institutions housing documents from the Middle Ages in Timbuktu.
Seven mausoleums on the UNESCO World Heritage site were targeted in the attack.
Founded in the fifth century, Timbuktu rose to prominence in the 15th and 16th centuries as a center of Islamic learning and helped the spread of Islam across Africa.
CNN’s Margot Haddad, Sheena McKenzie and Radina Gigova contributed to this report.
