Why The U.S. Is Sanctioning International Criminal Court Officials
Advertisement
The U.S. has imposed new sanctions on four International Criminal Court (ICC) officials in response to its investigations of Israel and U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against Kimberly Prost, Nicolas Guillou, Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang this week.
The ICC has slammed the sanctions as a “flagrant attack” against an impartial organization.
Highlights
- The U.S. sanctioned four ICC officials for investigating U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and Israeli leaders without U.S. or Israeli consent.
- ICC judges Prost and Guillou authorized probes and arrest warrants against U.S. troops and Israeli PM Netanyahu for alleged war crimes.
- The sanctions block the officials' U.S. assets. ICC and UN condemn the measures as attacks on judicial independence and international law.
- Netanyahu praised U.S. sanctions, calling ICC actions a politicized smear campaign against democracies’ right to self-defense.
- ICC investigations cover alleged war crimes by U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Israel’s tactics in Gaza, including the use of starvation as warfare.
Two judges and two prosecutors have been sanctioned
“These individuals are foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,” Rubio said.
Prost, a judge based in Canada, has been sanctioned for ruling to authorize the ICC’s investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.
Four ICC officials have been sanctioned by the U.S. government. Image credits: Pierre Crom/Getty Images
Judge Guillou, of France, was targeted for ruling to authorize arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
Those arrest warrants, issued in November 2024, allege that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The ICC alleges that they used starvation as a method of warfare, which is a war crime, and committed murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
Deputy Prosecutors Shameem Khan, of Fiji, and Niang, of Senegal, are being hit with sanctions for upholding those arrest warrants and “continuing to support illegitimate ICC actions against Israel.”
“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,” Rubio said.
Marco Rubio said the ICC is a national security threat. Image credits: John McDonnell/Getty Images
“The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel,” he added.
“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.”
The ICC sharply criticized the sanctions
The U.S. and Israel do not recognize the authority of the ICC and are not members of the court, having declined to ratify the Rome Statute that created it in 2002.
The sanctions mean that all property and interests of property held by the four officials in the U.S. will be blocked.
The sanctions have been sharply criticized by the ICC and the United Nations (UN), but they are not the first to be issued by the U.S.
Netanyahu welcomed the U.S. sanctions. Image credits: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
Earlier this year, it imposed similar sanctions on the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan KC, and four other judges.
“These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 States Parties from all regions,” the ICC said in a statement.
“They constitute also an affront against the Court’s States Parties, the rules-based international order and, above all, millions of innocent victims across the world.”
The UN has also criticized Rubio’s decision.
“The decision imposes severe impediments on the functioning of the office of the prosecutor and respect for all the situations that are currently before the court,” UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told journalists in New York.
“Judicial independence is a basic principle that must be respected, and these types of measures undermine the foundation of international justice.”
Israel was among those to welcome the new sanctions, with Netanyahu releasing a statement calling the arrest warrants issued by the ICC a smear campaign.
“Congratulations to President @realDonaldTrump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for imposing further sanctions on the politicized judges and prosecutors of the ICC,” he said in a statement on X.
“Under the leadership of President Trump, the United States is taking decisive action against a corrupt unelected bureaucracy that seeks to deny the U.S., Israel and all democracies the right to defend themselves against terrorist regimes and their proxies.”
ICC investigation into alleged crimes involving U.S. personnel in Afghanistan
The ICC’s Afghanistan investigation has covered alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity since May 1, 2003, as well as related conduct on the territory of other ICC member states.
Alongside alleged crimes by the Taliban and Afghan government forces, prosecutors have identified possible offenses by U.S. armed forces and intelligence personnel in the course of detention and interrogation operations.
There is indication that the U.S. inquiry has focused on allegations of torture, cruel treatment, and outrages upon personal dignity not only in Afghanistan but in other ICC member states.
The ICC is investigating U.S. personnel who were in Afghanistan. Image credits: John Moore/Getty Images
This includes alleged crimes by the CIA in Afghanistan and in clandestine CIA detention facilities in Poland, Romania, and Lithuania.
Human Rights Watch research also documented alleged torture and ill-treatment of detainees by the U.S. military and CIA since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
It further reported that Afghan forces, backed by the CIA, committed summary executions and other serious abuses with impunity in Afghanistan prior to the Taliban takeover.
In March 2020, the ICC Appeals Chamber overturned an earlier ruling and authorized a full investigation into the Afghanistan situation.
The U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021. Image credits: Scott Nelson/Getty Images
But the investigation was paused one month later when the former Afghan government asked the court to defer to the government’s own investigations.
In October 2022, the ICC was authorized to resume its investigation after its Office of the Prosecutor concluded that the Afghan proceedings were not genuinely addressing the alleged crimes.
The U.S. maintains the ICC has no authority to investigate its citizens.
ICC investigating Israel’s conduct in Gaza
The ICC’s Palestine investigation covers alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza and the West Bank.
It alleges that Netanyahu and Gallant are responsible for using starvation as a method of warfare, a war crime under the Rome Statute.
The warrants cover alleged crimes against humanity, including murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts committed against civilians from October 2023 to May 2024.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Image credits: Salah Malkawi/Getty Images
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber stated that the alleged crimes against humanity were part of a widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza.
It found “reasonable grounds to believe that both individuals intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival, including food, water, and medicine and medical supplies, as well as fuel and electricity.”
Prosecutors allege Netanyahu and Gallant intentionally impeded humanitarian relief, with decisions about aid often conditioned by political pressure rather than international legal obligations.
The Chamber concluded that those restrictions left hospitals without power or critical supplies, ultimately causing the death of civilians, including children, from malnutrition and dehydration.
It is alleged Israel used starvation as a method of warfare. Image credits: Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images
The ruling also cited evidence that doctors were forced to operate on patients, including children, without anesthetics, causing extreme pain and suffering.
Israel has rejected the allegations, saying the ICC has no jurisdiction over it and insisting that its military operations in Gaza are lawful acts of self-defense against Hamas.
Officials have described the arrest warrants as politically motivated and have denied that Israel deliberately targeted civilians or used starvation as a method of warfare.