Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz

Al-Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud is a Malian (born 1977) who joined Ansar Dine in early 2012 and became head of the Ansar Dine/al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) Islamic Police in Timbuktu during N. Mali conflict. As of September 2019, al-Hassan is in the custody of the International Criminal Court, for trial on the charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes carried out during 2012 and 2013, including rape and sexual slavery under Article 8 2.(e)(vi) of the Rome Statute of the ICC.

Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) held military control over Timbuctoo during April 2012 to January 2013. Ansar Dine and AQMI created what they called a religious police force, a morals brigade and an Islamic tribunal, which severely punished locals disobeying the Ansar Dine/AQMI rules, with imprisonment, unfair trials, flogging, torture and the destruction of religious objects. Al-Hassan joined Ansar Dine in early 2012 and by May 2012 had become a member of the religious police. He became the de facto leader of the police, with forty police officers under his control. Al-Hassan also cooperated with the Islamic tribunal, knowing, according to the ICC, that the tribunal operated unfairly, and participated in carrying out the tribunal's punishments and in the destruction of Muslim mausoleums in Timbuctoo. Al-Hassan participated in a program of forced marriages that effectively rendered Timbuctoo women and girls as sexual slaves.

The ICC investigation in Mali argues that al-Hassan's actions during 2012 and 2013 constitute part of the systematic policy of an organisation against the civilian population of Timbuctoo, and that he individually, together with others, via others, and by giving orders or encouragements, is penally responsible for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Mandate and arrest

The ICC issued a mandate for al-Hassan's arrest on 27 March 2018. He was surrendered by Mali to the court several days later, arriving in the Netherlands on 31 March 2018.

The case against al-Hassan was described as "groundbreaking" in The Guardian as it included sexual enslavement as a major component of the war crimes and crimes against humanity charges. Melinda Reed of Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice described the case as "another step in a positive evolution. Every decision matters. We are writing the jurisprudence of the future now, so every case and every step is extremely important with regards to gender-based and sexual crimes."

Trial

On 30 September 2019, ICC judges confirmed the charges against al-Hassan and stated that the trial would proceed. Al-Hassan's lawyers stated that he was innocent and that the case should be dismissed.