US imposes sanctions on international court officials in ‘flagrant attack’ | Trump administration

The Trump administration has ramped up its efforts to hobble the worldwide prison court docket in what the ICC has denounced as a “flagrant assault in opposition to the independence of an neutral judicial establishment”.The US state division on Wednesday introduced new sanctions on 4 ICC officers, together with two judges and two prosecutors, saying they’d been instrumental in efforts to prosecute People and Israelis. Because of the sanctions, any property that the targets maintain in US jurisdictions are frozen.The sanctions have been instantly denounced by each the ICC and the United Nations, whereas Israel welcomed the transfer introduced by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio.It’s simply the most recent in a sequence of steps the Trump administration has taken in opposition to the Hague-based court docket, the world’s first worldwide conflict crimes tribunal. The US, which isn’t a member of the court docket, has already imposed penalties on the ICC’s former chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, who stepped apart in Could pending an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, and 4 different tribunal judges.The brand new penalties goal the ICC judges Kimberly Prost of Canada and Nicolas Guillou of France and prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.“These people are overseas individuals who straight engaged in efforts by the worldwide prison court docket to analyze, arrest, detain or prosecute nationals of the US or Israel, with out the consent of both nation,” Rubio mentioned.He added that the administration would proceed “to take no matter actions we deem essential to guard our troops, our sovereignty and our allies from the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions”.In a separate assertion, the state division mentioned Prost was sanctioned for a ruling to authorize an ICC investigation into personnel in Afghanistan, which was later dropped. Guillou was sanctioned for ruling to authorize the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s former minister of protection Yoav Gallant associated to Israel’s conflict in Gaza.France – whose president, Emmanuel Macron, was in Washington two days earlier – expressed “dismay” over the motion.The sanctions are “in contradiction to the precept of an unbiased judiciary”, a overseas ministry spokesperson mentioned in Paris.Khan and Niang have been penalized for persevering with Karim Khan’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza, together with upholding the ICC’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, in accordance with the assertion.In response, the ICC issued a press release calling the sanctions “a flagrant assault in opposition to the independence of an neutral judicial establishment” and “an affront in opposition to the Court docket’s states events, the rules-based worldwide order and, above all, hundreds of thousands of harmless victims the world over”.A UN spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, mentioned the ICC had the complete assist of the world physique to hold out its work. The UN was “very involved” concerning the US persevering with to focus on the worldwide court docket, he mentioned.“We firmly imagine that the ICC is a key pillar of worldwide prison justice, and we respect their work,” Dujarric mentioned. “The choice imposes extreme impediments on the functioning of the workplace of the prosecutor in respect for all of the conditions which are at present earlier than the court docket.”skip previous e-newsletter promotionGet an important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you each morningPrivacy Discover: Newsletters could comprise data about charities, on-line advertisements, and content material funded by exterior events. For extra info see our Privateness Coverage. We use Google reCaptcha to guard our web site and the Google Privateness Coverage and Phrases of Service apply.after e-newsletter promotionNetanyahu welcomed the US transfer.“It is a agency measure in opposition to the mendacious smear marketing campaign in opposition to the State of Israel and the IDF, and for reality and justice,” he mentioned in a press release, utilizing an acronym for the Israeli army.Wednesday’s transfer carries on a historical past of Trump administration actions in opposition to the ICC relationship again to his first time period in workplace. Throughout Trump’s first time period, the US hit the ICC with sanctions, however these have been rescinded by Joe Biden’s administration in early 2021.Danya Chaikel, the Worldwide Federation for Human Rights’s consultant to the ICC, mentioned the escalation in US sanctions amounted to “a continued assault on the rule of regulation and a blatant try to intimidate these pursuing accountability for atrocity crimes”.She mentioned the brand new sanctions have been a “defining check” for the ICC’s 125 member states. “Will they defend the court docket’s independence and the rights of victims of worldwide crimes, or permit intimidation by highly effective states to dictate who deserves justice?” she added.