‘The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare,’ Rubio says in statement
The Trump administration sanctioned four members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday over their efforts to “investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,” the State Department confirmed to the Washington Free Beacon.
The sanctions target two ICC judges and two deputy prosecutors, all of whom are involved in cases against American military members and Israeli officials. They include Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, French judge Nicolas Guillou, Fijian deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan, and Senegalese deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang.
“The United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC’s politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement provided to the Free Beacon. “The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel.”
Prost authorized the ICC’s ongoing investigation into American military members who served in Afghanistan, while Guillou signed off on arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant. Both Khan and Niang will be sanctioned for “continuing to support illegitimate ICC actions against Israel, including upholding the ICC’s arrest warrants,” according to the State Department.
“It remains the policy of the United States Government to take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our troops, our sovereignty, and our allies from the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions,” Rubio added. “I urge countries that still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to resist the claims of this bankrupt institution.”
The sanctions are meant “to impose tangible and significant consequences on those directly engaged in the ICC’s transgressions against the United States and Israel,” according to a fact sheet assembled by the Treasury Department, which enforces sanctions. Americans, including financial institutions, are now prohibited from conducting transactions with the four ICC members and any property held inside the country will be blocked.
They come after the Trump administration sanctioned ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan earlier this year, freezing his bank accounts and preventing him from accessing email accounts. American staffers based at the ICC’s headquarters in The Hague were additionally informed that “they risk arrest” if travelling home, according to PBS News.
Republican lawmakers in Congress have also eyed efforts to expand sanctions on the ICC. The court’s president, Tomoko Akane, urged the European Union in March to invoke what is known as the blocking statute, a legal maneuver that shields EU members from sanctions issued by third-party countries such as the United States.
“When more persons are designated, when all the judges are designated, or when the court itself is designated, it will then be too late,” Akane said at the time.
In response to this effort, Republican Senate leaders Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Ted Cruz (Texas) proposed expanding sanctions on the ICC to prevent its officials from evading the punitive measures.
A January poll found that 42 percent of registered voters strongly supported ICC sanctions, compared with 14 percent who said they strongly oppose them.
The Trump administration also sanctioned United Nations special rapporteur Francesca Albanese in July “for her illegitimate and shameful efforts to prompt International Criminal Court action against U.S. and Israeli officials, companies, and executives.”
American diplomats formally petitioned the U.N. last month to fire Albanese, citing her “virulent antisemitism and support for terrorism.”
“The Trump Administration will not remain on the sidelines as the ICC continues with its politicization and abuse of power, which directly represent a national security threat to the United States,” a senior State Department official told the Free Beacon. “These sanctions are yet another step taken by this administration to hold accountable those individuals who directly support the ICC’s baseless attacks on the sovereignty of the United States and our allies.”
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