ICC prosecutor threatens Mali Islamists with war crimes prosecution for destruction of Timbuktu shrines

07/02/12: Al Jazeera reports the International Criminal Court (ICC) has threatened Islamist fighters in Mali with legal action if they do not halt their destruction of ancient Islamic monuments.  “My message to those involved in these criminal acts is clear: stop the destruction of the religious buildings now,” Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in an interview.  “This is a war crime which my office has authority to fully investigate.”  She said that Mali was a signatory to the Rome Statute, a document that established the ICC and states that deliberate attacks against undefended civilian buildings which are not military objectives are a war crime.  Members of the group Ansar Dine have destroyed the mausoleums of Sufi saints in historic Timbuktu for two straight days.