On September 27, 2016, in The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi, Trial Chamber VIII of the International Criminal Court (ICC) found Al Mahdi guilty of war crimes based his destruction of cultural property in Timbuktu, Mali. According to the press release, the Chamber sentenced Al Mahdi to nine years' imprisonment after he “admitted guilt to the war crime consisting in attacking 10 historic and religious monuments.” The Chamber considered a number of factors in determining the sentence, particularly that “all the sites but one were UNESCO World Heritage sites.” According to reports, this was the first prosecution by the ICC for the destruction of cultural property.