ICC slams US decision to sanction the court's president and a senior
prosecution lawyer
[August 20, 2026]
By MIKE CORDER
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court on
Wednesday slammed the latest U.S. sanctions targeting senior ICC staff,
including its president, as a “flagrant attack” on the global tribunal's
independence and vowed to continue seeking justice for atrocities around
the world.
The State Department announced Tuesday that it had hit ICC president
Tomoko Akane, a Japanese national, and ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye
Seye, who is from Senegal, with sanctions that freeze any assets they
have in U.S. jurisdictions or come into contact with the U.S. financial
system.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the move “very
unfortunate” when asked about the sanctions by a reporter. “Japan will
respond as we continue to maintain communication with related countries
including the United States,” she added.
The Trump administration has now slapped sanctions on nine of the ICC's
18 judges, both of its deputy prosecutors, its former chief prosecutor
and one other prosecution office staffer, the court said. The U.S.
accuses the court of overstepping its mandate by investigating and
seeking to prosecute senior military and political officials from
countries, such as Israel and the United States, that are not members of
the court.
In a statement, the court said that when “judicial actors are threatened
for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is
placed at risk.” It said the court “will continue to fully discharge its
mandate with independence and impartiality.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday branded the ICC “a corrupt and
fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its
authority and exceeded its mandate.”
The move came weeks after Rubio announced that the U.S. was launching a
“sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International
Criminal Court to U.S. sovereignty.”
Rubio said he will pressure the court’s 125 member states to withdraw
from the institution, sanction organizations that work with the court
and ban staff from traveling to the United States.
Since then, Venezuela and Chad have announced they plan to leave the
court, bringing the number of countries to pull out of the court in the
past year to five. It takes a year for a country's decision to quit the
court to be formalized.
The sanctions can impact the daily lives of court officials. They
prevent the ICC officials and their families from entering the United
States, block their access to even basic financial services making even
going to a grocery store difficult.
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A general view of the exterior of the International Criminal
Court is seen in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025. (AP
Photo/Omar Havana, File)
Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, who was sanctioned last year, lost
access to her credit cards, and Amazon’s Alexa stopped responding to
her. “Your whole world is restricted,” she told The Associated Press
after she was targeted.
The court's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, called
the sanctions an “escalation” that “risks undermining ongoing
investigations and impeding global efforts” to ensure justice
reaches victims of global atrocities.
While Japan calls its alliance with the United States the
cornerstone of its postwar foreign and security policies, Tokyo has
had difficulty managing the relationship under Trump’s trade and
security policies. Takaichi has been portrayed as weak for avoiding
any criticism of Trump as her administration navigates weakened U.S.
commitment in the region and deteriorating ties with China.
Yuichiro Tamaki, leader of the Japanese opposition Democratic Party
for the People, wrote on X that Trump’s sanctions were “outrageous
and intolerable.” He urged Takaichi’s government to show its support
for the ICC and reach out to the U.S. government to “have it retract
this unjust sanction.”
ICC host nation the Netherlands and European powerhouse Germany both
threw their weight behind the court.
German foreign office spokesman Martin Giese told reporters in
Berlin that the ICC is “fulfilling its mission exactly as intended,”
by holding to account perpetrators of grave crimes. Dutch Foreign
Minister Tom Berendsen said he had invited Akane for talks “to
discuss our continued support.”
Balkees Jarrah, Middle East and North Africa director at Human
Rights Watch, called the sanctions “the latest example of the Trump
administration’s utter contempt for international law and a naked
attempt to shield American and Israeli officials implicated in
serious crimes from justice.”
Human Rights Watch and three other advocacy groups sued the Trump
administration in a New York court last week to challenge its
campaign against the ICC.
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Associated Press journalists Matthew Lee in Washington, Mari
Yamaguchi in Tokyo and Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin contributed to
this report.
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