The Trump administration, which has been a staunch supporter of Israel in its ongoing war in Gaza whereupon the International Criminal Court had issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and far-right defence minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes, has imposed sanctions on senior ICC officials even though the United States is not a member of the court, and the move has drawn strong criticism from the ICC, the United Nations and governments including France.
The United States announced sanctions on four ICC officials, namely two judges and two prosecutors, accusing them of advancing investigations into American and Israeli nationals without the consent of their countries, and the penalties include the freezing of assets within US jurisdiction as well as restrictions on dealings with American entities, The Guardian reported.
The new targets of the measures are Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, French judge Nicolas Guillou, Fijian prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan and Senegalese prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang, who are all linked to authorising or pursuing cases related to alleged crimes in Afghanistan and Gaza.
According to the State Department, Prost was penalised for authorising a probe into US conduct in Afghanistan that was later abandoned, while Guillou was targeted for supporting arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, and Khan together with Niang were sanctioned for pursuing investigations into Israel’s military actions in Gaza under the office of the prosecutor following Karim Khan’s departure.
The measures extend a long campaign by the Trump administration against the Hague-based tribunal, which had earlier seen sanctions placed on Karim Khan himself and several other judges before being lifted by the Biden administration in 2021.
The ICC denounced the move as an unprecedented assault on the independence of an impartial judicial body and said it represented a blow to the rights of victims worldwide, while the United Nations expressed deep concern and reiterated its support for the court as a key institution of international criminal justice.
France reacted with dismay, declaring that the sanctions contradicted the fundamental principle of an independent judiciary, while Israel welcomed the American action as a defence against what it characterised as unfounded accusations against its military and leadership.
Human rights organisations also condemned the escalation, warning that the sanctions amounted to a blatant attempt to intimidate judicial officials and undermine the pursuit of accountability for atrocity crimes, and they urged the ICC’s 125 member states to defend the court’s autonomy against pressure from powerful non-member countries.