The International Criminal Court, ICC, has sentenced the former head of the Islamic police in Mali’s historic city of Timbuktu to ten years in prison for war crimes.

Al-Hassan ag Abdoul Aziz ag Mohamed ag Mahmoud, aged forty-seven, was said to have led a “reign of terror” in the city after it was overrun in 2012 by the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine group, and he was found guilty in June this year of torture, overseeing public amputations by machete and the brutal floggings of residents, including children.

Though he looked emotionless after his sentence was read out at the ICC in The Hague, Netherlands, the Presiding Judge, Kimberly Prost, said the jail term is proportionate to the gravity of the crimes and the individual circumstances and culpability of Mr Al Hassan.