US vs ICC row escalates: Trump administration sanctions international court president, senior lawyer

Trump administration sanctioned ICC president Tomoko Akane The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court president Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, in the latest escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign against the Hague-based court.US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the sanctions were imposed under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last year. Akane, a Japanese judge, heads the ICC, while Seye, a Senegalese national, is a senior trial lawyer on the prosecution team that sought an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has also been nominated for election as an ICC judge.“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” Rubio said, as quoted by Reuters.The ICC condemned the sanctions, saying they threatened the international legal order. “When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the court said.The move has also put Washington at odds with European allies. Dutch Foreign...