The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) June 2024 ruling in Prosecutor v. Al Hassan has drawn criticism after the defendant was acquitted of gender persecution despite evidence of widespread sexual and gender-based violence in Timbuktu. From April 2012, Islamist groups Ansar Dine and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) imposed strict Shari'a law and committed atrocities, subjecting women to forced marriages, movement restrictions, and sexual violence. The defendant, a high-level member of the Islamic Police, was acquitted on all crimes of gender and sexual-based violence, including gender persecution, despite being convicted of religious persecution. Legal ambiguities and divided judicial opinions undermined the case, echoing past ICC shortcomings in addressing such crimes and leaving behind a discouraging precedent for future and ongoing cases of gender persecution.
Compiled from: Leila Nadya Sadat, “Al Hassan Symposium – A Disappointment for the Victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Timbuktu,” Lieber Institute West Point, Feb. 18, 2025.