The Trump administration is ramping up pressure on the International Criminal Court for pursuing investigations into US and Israeli officials for alleged war crimes.
The State Department on Thursday announced new sanctions on four ICC officials, including two judges and two prosecutors, saying they had been instrumental in efforts to prosecute Americans and Israelis. As a result of the sanctions, any assets that the targets hold in US jurisdictions are frozen.
The sanctions were immediately denounced by both the ICC and the United Nations, while Israel welcomed the move announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
It is just the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken against The Hague-based court, the world’s first international war crimes tribunal. The US, which is not a member of the court, has already imposed penalties on the ICC’s former chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, who stepped aside in May pending an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, and four other tribunal judges.
The new penalties target ICC judges Kimberly Proust of Canada and Nicolas Guillou of France and prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.
“These individuals are foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,” Rubio said.
He added that the administration would continue “to take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our troops, our sovereignty, and our allies from the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions.”
In a separate statement, the State Department said Prost was hit for a ruling to authorise an ICC investigation into US personnel in Afghanistan, which was later dropped. Guillou was sanctioned for ruling to authorise the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant related to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Nazhat Shameem Khan and Niang were penalised for continuing Karim Khan’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza, including upholding the ICC’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, according to the statement.
In response, the ICC issued a statement calling the sanctions “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution” and “an affront against the Court’s states parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the ICC has the full support of the world body to carry out its work. The UN is “very concerned” about the US continuing to target the international court, he said.
“We firmly believe that the ICC is a key pillar of international criminal justice, and we respect their work,” Dujarric said. “The decision imposes severe impediments on the functioning of the office of the prosecutor in respect for all the situations that are currently before the court.”
Netanyahu welcomed the US step.
“This is a firm measure against the mendacious smear campaign against the State of Israel and the IDF, and for truth and justice,” he said in a statement, using an acronym for the Israeli military.
Wednesday’s move carries on a history of Trump administration actions against the ICC dating back to his first term in office.
During Trump’s first term, the US hit the ICC with sanctions, but those were rescinded by President Joe Biden’s administration in early 2021.
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