U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Two Senior Officials of the International Criminal Court

The United States has imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court President Karim Khan and senior ICC legal adviser Abdulaye Saye.

Rubio announced new sanctions on the ICC. Rubio said that Khan and Saye were directly involved in ICC efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute. This concerns cases involving officials whose governments did not consent to ICC jurisdiction. The Treasury also issued on Tuesday a general license allowing the termination of operations involving Khan until 17 September. What the sanctions threaten: they freeze these individuals' assets in the United States and effectively cut them off from the U.S. financial system. Who else at the ICC is under sanctions? Last year the United States imposed targeted sanctions on several ICC officials. The list included prosecutors and judges involved in warrants and investigations concerning: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and American troops in Afghanistan. In June, three ICC judges filed suit against Trump and his administration over the sanctions. They contend that these measures were illegal. Earlier, RBC-Ukraine reported that the U.S. administration pledged to intensify efforts to undermine ICC activities.

In addition, the ICC removed from office the ICC prosecutor Karim Khan. It was he who secured the arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. It was also reported that the United States had imposed sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan.