Mali’s Islamist rebel group Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith) have started destroying sacred shrines, after it declared control over the Northern part of Mali, including the historic town of Timbuktu.
The town’s ancient Sufi shrines face complete destruction, as Ansar Dine considers them idolatrous and incompatible with the group’s interpretation of Sharia Law. According to AFP seven tombs of Sufi saints have been demolished in the past two days.
Ansar Dine’s demolition campaign has horrified and outraged both Mali’s government and the international community.
The International Criminal Court has called the destruction a war crime.
"My message to those involved in these criminal acts is clear: stop the destruction of the religious buildings now," ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told AFP in an interview in Dakar.
"This is a war crime which my office has authority to fully investigate."
As Mali has signed the Rome Statute, which established the ICC, they are bound to Article 8 which states deliberate attacks against undefended civilian buildings, including historical and religious monuments, are a war crime.
The attacks have prompted UNESCO to list Timbuktu as an endangered site.
UNESCO session chairwoman Yeleonor Mitrofanova speaking at a meeting in Saint Petersburg called for an immediate halt to the attacks saying "I appeal to all those engaged in the conflict in Timbuktu to exercise their responsibility -- for the sake of future generations, spare the legacy of their past,"
Responding to international uproar, Oumar Ould Hamaha, a spokesman for Ansar Dine said
“We are subject to religion and not to international opinion. Building on graves is contrary to Islam. We are destroying the mausoleums because it is ordained by our religion,”
Another spokesman, Sanda Ould Boumama, said that the group was acting in the name of God and would "destroy every mausoleum in the city. All of them, without exception".