Complex sentence: When Abou Zeid controlled Mali's town of Timbuktu, he imposed a violent form of Islamic "sharia" law, engaging in amputations of criminals' limbs as punishment.
Split into simpler sentences: When Abou Zeid controlled Mali's town of Timbuktu, he imposed a violent form of Islamic "sharia" law. He ordered the amputations of criminals' limbs as punishment.