US imposes fresh sanctions on four ICC judges, prosecutors

The ICC, founded in 2002, prosecutes genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The US, China, Russia, and Israel are not members. (Photo/Reuters)

US President Donald Trump's administration imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, as Washington kept up its pressure on the war tribunal over its targeting of Israeli officials.

Washington designated on Wednesday Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal, and Kimberly Prost of Canada, according to the US Treasury and State Department.

ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former Israeli defence chief Yoav Gallant last November for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.

Guillou is an ICC judge who presided over a pre-trial panel that issued the arrest warrant for Netanyahu. Khan and Niang are the court's two deputy prosecutors.

Unprecedented step

The move comes less than three months after the administration took the unprecedented step of slapping sanctions on four separate ICC judges, saying they have engaged in ICC's "illegitimate and baseless actions" targeting the US and close ally Israel.

ICC, which had slammed the move in June, describing it as an attempt to undermine the independence of the judicial institution, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The ICC, which was established in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the UN Security Council. The United States, China, Russia, and Israel are not members.

It has high-profile war crimes investigations under way into the Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia's war in Ukraine, as well as in Sudan, Myanmar, the Philippines, Venezuela, and Afghanistan.

The sanctions freeze any US assets the individuals may have and essentially cut them off from the US financial system.

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Source: TRT