Members of Ansar al-Din movement Algiers – Hocine Bousaleh According to local sources from Timbuktu in northern Mali, the Ansar al Din Movement (Supporters of Religion) headed by the fanatic Iyad Ag Ghali, decided on Thursday to arrest women who remain on the streets very late at night, and imprisoning them as well as imposing penalties and fines on those who violate Islamic Sharia.
The armed movement that tightens its grip on the regions of northern Mali, started implementing what it called the rule of Islamic Sharia in the region, arresting every girl that does not wear hijab.
The same source added that the movement issued instructions for all the people of Timbuktu city on the importance of applying Sharia, forcing the girls of the region to wear hijab. “Any girl found on the streets starting from eleven o'clock at night will be imprisoned and will pay a fine," said the movement.
In the same context, militants from Ansar al-Din movement and its ally in the region Tawhid and Jihad movement (Oneness and Jihad) ,destroyed most of the saints’ shrines in the city of Timbuktu. The shrines were from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries since Timbuktu was as cultural and spiritual capital in the Sahel region.
International denunciation and disapproval of violent policies and vandalism in the region of northern Mali continues. Northern Mali is occupied by armed movements who are the allies of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Bamako’s government is negotiating with the Ozoaddeins in order to find solutions and a peaceful way out of the crisis in the region.