Lawyer says alleged Mali extremist was only obeying orders

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Lawyers for an alleged extremist accused of involvement in crimes including rape and torture in northern Mali a decade ago say he was simply a police officer carrying out court orders and he could have been killed for disobeying. Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court had argued that Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud was a “key figure” in a reign of terror after al-Qaida-linked rebels overran the northern city of Timbuktu in 2012. But his defense lawyer said Monday that he was “obliged to respect and execute the decisions of the Islamic tribunal. This is what the police around the world do.”