The Mali cultural destruction trial at the ICC poses a moral dilemma

On 22 August 2016, the International Criminal Court was the subject of extensive news coverage. Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, a Malian of Tuareg parentage, pleaded guilty to being individually criminally responsible for ordering the destruction of sacred religious buildings in Timbuktu in 2012. As journalists ran out of the public gallery moments after his plea to file their stories, the court was left with five days to sift the evidence that will inform his sentence expected on the 27 September 2016.