Photo: Alamy
The Trump administration on Wednesday imposed sanctions on two judges and two prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, intensifying its standoff with the war tribunal over investigations involving Israeli leaders and U.S. officials.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the measures in a statement, calling the ICC “a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare” against the United States and Israel.
The sanctions target Nicolas Yann Guillou of France, Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji, Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal and Kimberly Prost of Canada, according to the Treasury and State departments. The four officials were involved in cases tied to Israel and the U.S., including proceedings that led to the ICC’s arrest warrants last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri.
“Being entrusted with a security clearance is a privilege, not a right,” Rubio said. “Those in the Intelligence Community who betray their oath to the Constitution and put their own interests ahead of the interests of the American people have broken the sacred trust they promised to uphold. In doing so, they undermine our national security, the safety and security of the American people, and the foundational principles of our democratic republic.”
The sanctions mark the second round of legal action against the court in less than three months. In June, the administration sanctioned four other ICC judges in what observers described as an unprecedented confrontation with the tribunal. The new penalties freeze any U.S. assets held by the officials and bar them from the American financial system.
The ICC, which condemned the earlier sanctions as an attack on judicial independence, did not immediately respond to Wednesday’s decision. Legal experts said the move could hinder the court’s ability to function as it pursues war crimes cases involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other international conflicts.
Guillou, a French judge, presided over the pre-trial panel that issued Netanyahu’s arrest warrant. Khan and Niang serve as deputy prosecutors at the ICC. Prost, a Canadian judge, sat on an appeals chamber that in 2020 authorized prosecutors to investigate alleged war crimes in Afghanistan dating back to 2003, including possible abuses by U.S. forces.
The ICC opened its Afghanistan investigation in 2020, but since 2021 has shifted its focus away from U.S. troops to alleged crimes by Taliban and Afghan government forces.
The United States, along with Israel, Russia and China, is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction. Washington has long resisted efforts by the court to investigate its personnel or allies.
