Timbuktu`s mausoleums, ancient protectors of city
(Artdaily.org)

The shrines of Muslim saints in Timbuktu in northern Mali are widely believed to protect the fabled city from danger, but were largely destroyed by radical Islamists in 2012. Five years after their destruction the Timbuktu mausoleums have been restored through work carried out by local craftsmen, with help from the UN`s cultural arm UNESCO. On Thursday the International Criminal Court in The Hague ruled that Malian ex-jihadist Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi caused 2.7 million euros in damages when he destroyed some of the mausoleums and ordered the payment of compensation to victims. Mahdi, of the Tuareg people, was jailed for nine years by the court in a landmark verdict in September 2016 after he pleaded guilty to directing attacks on the UNESCO World Heritage site. The mausoleums are the tombs of revered Muslim sages, known as `saints` in Timbuktu, a city listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, then in 2012 put on its List of World Heritage in Danger. According to UNESCO the city counts a