US sanctions International Criminal Court president, top lawyer
The sanctions come a month after Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the court "brick by brick."
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Tuesday imposed sanctions against the International Criminal Court’s president and a senior trial lawyer, deepening its confrontation with the tribunal it says is biased against the United States and Israel.
The new sanctions target ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan and Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, a senior trial lawyer for the court. They follow Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s announcement last month of a campaign to “systematically disable” the Hague-based court "brick by brick, if necessary."
The ICC “is a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate,” Rubio said in a statement Tuesday. “We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty.”
The sanctions were issued under President Donald Trump’s February 2025 executive order declaring a “national emergency” in response to the ICC’s “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
Trump cited the court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, who a three-judge ICC panel determined in November 2024 bore responsibility for the war crime of “starvation as a method of warfare” and other “inhumane acts” in the Gaza Strip.
As the United States and Israel are not parties to the Rome Statute, the international treaty that established the court in 2002, neither recognizes its jurisdiction.
The Trump administration previously sanctioned ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan, who was removed from his post last month amid allegations of sexual misconduct. It also sanctioned Francesca Albanese, UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, whom it accused of antisemitism and support for terrorism.
The administration also announced last year it would be withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, citing UNESCO’s inclusion of Palestine as a member state.
Human Rights Watch and three other advocacy groups sued Trump earlier this month, arguing his administration’s sanctions on the ICC hinder efforts to hold perpetrators of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable.
