Why the ICC has the wrong man on trial over invasion of Timbuktu

“Tuareg sent to the ICC ,” read the headlines, announcing the delivery of the first Malian jihadist suspect to the international criminal court.
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Alleged Islamic extremist accused of destroying Timbuktu monuments sent to Hague
Abou Tourab, to use his nom de guerre, will appear at the Hague today, accused of being a leading member of Ansar Dine, a Malian group allied to al-Qaida, and participating in the destruction of the monuments in the historic city of Timbuktu. Worse, the ICC added in a statement, he played an significant role during the 10-month occupation of the city.
Do the agents and intelligence services of Mali , the ICC and France have no memory?
First let’s give the young man his rights and call him by his name: Mohamed Ag Mahmoud Al Faqi. Call him Terrorist and Pseudo-jihadist, too, but not Tuareg. Tuareg is an ethnic group, not a defect to be displayed in a headline, offending all those who have not joined the dance of jihadists.
There are many Tuareg who have chosen exile rather than be mistaken for rebels or jihadists.
When Laurent Gbagbo, former president of Ivory Coast, made his
first appearance at the ICC , did they ask if he was a Baoulé or a Bété? No.
I still remember the entrance into Timbuktu in April 2012 of the men we did not know, even though they claimed to be bringing us freedom.
Al Faqi was not one of these foreign invaders. He was from a village near the city. I taught him at Timbuktu’s Hégire training college in 2008, and remember thinking he was a quiet type who had a lot of trouble pronouncing French words. Admittedly, like other students of the Hégire, he did not like the language: it was the speech of Christians, and worse still, of Unbelievers.
He gained a passable mark because he did his homework and he learned. He was courteous and respectful, but he had sly eyes and the same beard he must now wear in the corridors of the Dutch court.
His arrest did not shock anyone who knew him in Timbuktu. We had identified him in the first video to come out that showed the violence of these people against the population of Timbuktu during their occupation of the city.