Malian Islamist police bags 10 year jail term

A Malian Islamist police chief Aliou Mahamane, who cut off people’s hands as part of a harsh form of Islamic law by jihadi rebels was handed a 10-year jail term yesterday.

The trial was the first by a national Malian court for crimes by Islamists when they took over the desert north after an uprising by northern ethnic tuareg separatist.

Aliou Mahamane Toure was head of police in the northern city of Gao during the 10-month regime.

His lawyer Oumar Abocar Sidibe told newsmen that the court had arrived at a decision executed yesterday.

Mali retains the death penalty in principle but hasn’t practised it since the 1990s.