The International Criminal Court has condemned US sanctions imposed on its president, Tomoko Akane, and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, calling them a “flagrant attack” on the court’s independence. The sanctions are part of the Trump administration’s campaign against what Washington describes as a “corrupt and fatally politicised body”.
The Hague-based court said measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff undermine the rule of law. The sanctions bar the affected officials from entering the United States and from carrying out transactions in the US financial system.
What the ICC and US governments said
The ICC said judicial actors should not be threatened for applying the law, warning that such pressure places the international legal order at risk. Akane, a Japanese judge, has been the court’s president since her election in March 2024. Seye is a Senegalese lawyer at the ICC.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the sanctioned individuals had directly participated in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute officials whose governments had not consented to ICC jurisdiction. He did not provide examples in the statement described in the source material.
Related coverage: Washington expands sanctions against two International Criminal Court officials.
Why the dispute has widened
Washington’s latest action follows earlier sanctions against ICC officials, largely in response to the court’s investigations involving Israel, a US ally. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024 over the war in Gaza, according to the source material.
The United States signed the Rome Statute that established the ICC but never ratified it. Israel and Russia are also not members of the court. The ICC was established in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of the gravest atrocities when national legal systems cannot ensure accountability.
How allies and rights groups responded
Japan’s Foreign Ministry objected to the sanctions and said Tokyo consistently supports the ICC’s efforts to prosecute the most serious crimes and uphold the rule of law. Japan is the court’s biggest funder and a close US ally.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa said they stood firmly with Akane and other senior officials, who should be able to act independently and without external pressure.
The measures have also been followed by wider diplomatic pressure. The United States has called on partners to withdraw from the ICC, and Chad and Venezuela have announced such withdrawals. Four human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, separately sued Donald Trump in a New York court over the sanctions, arguing that they prevent war-crime victims from pursuing justice.
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