US announces new sanctions on top ICC figures

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced sanctions against the president and a senior lawyer of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The move is the Trump administration's latest escalation in its campaign to "dismantle" the court which is empowered by more than 120 member countries to investigate war crimes.

Rubio said the US was sanctioning ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal for engaging in the ICC's efforts to "prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction".

The ICC said it stands behind its staff and believes that measures such as those announced by Rubio "undermine the rule of law."

Rubio accused the court of being "a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate. We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty."

Neither President Trump nor the White House has so far commented.

The Trump administration has already announced sanctions on at least 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor.

The sanctions include asset freezes, travel bans, and restrictions on services from U.S. companies.

Those sanctions were issued in retaliation for ICC investigations into US personnel in Afghanistan and for warrants the court issued against top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Netanyahu has denied allegations of war crimes and accused the court of being motivated by antisemitism. Neither the US nor Israel are members of the ICC.

However, the state of Palestine became a member of the ICC in 2015, opening the way for the court's examination of crimes alleged to have been committed on Palestinian territory.

Trump's opposition to the court dates back to his first term in office, when he first described the ICC as a "threat" and told the UN General Assembly that it has "no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority" as far as the US is concerned.

Last month, Rubio called on the ICC's 125 member countries to withdraw from the court as part of a US government campaign to dismantle it "brick by brick".

Amid a growing pressure campaign, a US official said Washington would "watch with interest" who heeded its call and who did not.

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.

"Measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff who work towards the fulfilment of the mandate that was conferred to the ICC by States undermine the rule of law," the court said in its statement on Tuesday. "When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk."

Rights organisations have pushed back against what they view as the Trump administration's attempts to undermine international law and stifle efforts to combat impunity by governments around the world.

"The Trump administration seeks a get-out-of-jail-free card for whomever it chooses," said Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, during a press conference last week.

Evenson's comments came as four leading US human rights groups sued the Trump administration over its campaign to dismantle the ICC, calling it unconstitutional.

Human Rights Watch, ⁠the Open Society Institute, the American Friends Service Committee and the Center for Constitutional Rights said in their lawsuit filed in New York that the sanctions prevented them from working with the court to seek justice for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity around the world.

In June, three ICC judges also sued the administration in a New York federal court over sanctions imposed on them last year, arguing the measures were unlawful.

Judges Kimberly Prost of Canada, Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin said the sanctions were designed to exert extrajudicial pressure with the objective of punishing and coercing the judges.

At the time, a White House official said that Trump had lawfully exercised his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in imposing the sanctions.

Sanctions severely hamper individuals' abilities to carry out even routine financial transactions as any banks with ties to the US, or that conduct transactions in dollars, are expected to have to comply with the restrictions.

Since Trump returned to office, his administration - spearheaded by Rubio - has taken a much more aggressive stand towards the court.

In a July video statement announcing the campaign to dismantle the court, Rubio accused the ICC of "waging a war against our country" with "statutes, compacts and the force of so-called international law".

"Today, it threatens every aspect of our political and legal system," he added. "If they believe they can deprive us of our sovereignty, we will teach them the full meaning of American resolve."

(With additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr)

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