The US Is Punishing the Top Judge of the World's War Crimes Court. Here's Why.
On August 18, 2026, the US government announced punishments against the leader of the International Criminal Court (ICC), President Tomoko Akane of Japan, and one of its senior lawyers, Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the announcement, and President Donald Trump ordered the move. At least 11 people at the ICC have now been punished this way under this administration, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor BBC.
The ICC is a court in The Hague, Netherlands, set up to try people for the most serious crimes in the world: genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It only has authority over countries that have joined the court, or if the United Nations Security Council sends it a case BBC.
Rubio accused Akane and Seye of taking part in ICC efforts to investigate, arrest, or put on trial officials whose countries never joined the court. He called the ICC "a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court" that had "maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate" BBC.
The punishments are called sanctions. Sanctions are a way for one government to use its economic power against people it sees as doing harm. In this case, they mean that any money or property the targeted people have in the United States gets frozen. They are also banned from traveling to the US, and American companies are not allowed to do business with them. Under Executive Order 14203, the specific legal order President Trump used, any company owned 50 percent or more by a sanctioned person is also blocked. The Treasury Department's OFAC office, which handles these rules, must grant special permission for any transaction to go through U.S. State Department.
The fight comes from two main situations. First, the ICC started looking into whether US military and intelligence personnel committed war crimes in Afghanistan. Second, the court issued arrest warrants for top Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza. Netanyahu has denied the accusations and said the ICC is motivated by antisemitism. Neither the United States nor Israel has joined the ICC BBC.
Earlier rounds of sanctions went after specific decisions made by court officials. In August 2025, the State Department sanctioned Judge Kimberly Prost of Canada for allowing the ICC's investigation into US personnel in Afghanistan. Judge Nicolas Yann Guillou was sanctioned for allowing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan and Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang were sanctioned for backing ICC actions against Israel, including upholding the warrants U.S. State Department. The ICC said that August 2025 round undermined judicial independence Reuters.
The broader context here is that the US is trying to weaken the court as a whole, not just protect individual people. Rubio told the ICC's 125 member countries last month to leave the court, saying the US goal is to take it apart "brick by brick." A US official said Washington would "watch with interest" who followed that advice and who did not BBC. Reuters reported in July that the administration supported the sanctions partly to stop any future effort to hold US personnel accountable at the court Reuters.
Trump's opposition to the ICC goes back to his first term as president. He told the UN General Assembly that the court had "no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority" as far as the US is concerned BBC.
The campaign is facing legal challenges. In June, three ICC judges — Kimberly Prost of Canada, Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin — sued the administration in a New York federal court. They said the sanctions were meant to pressure and punish the judges BBC. Separately, Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Institute, the American Friends Service Committee, and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit in New York calling the sanctions unconstitutional. They said the punishments stop them from working with the ICC to seek justice for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity BBC.
A White House official said Trump used a law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which lets the president control international trade during a national emergency BBC. Human Rights Watch international justice director Liz Evenson said the administration "seeks a get-out-of-jail-free card for whomever it chooses" BBC.
What makes the August 18 sanctions stand out is how senior the targets are. Going after the court's president raises the pressure from individual judges to the person who leads the entire institution. The call for member countries to leave the court, if it works, would further weaken the ICC by shrinking its financial and legal foundation. For the 125 member countries, the US threat to "watch with interest" turns withdrawal into a loyalty test that could affect their relationships with Washington. For the ICC itself, the sanctions on its president come at the same time as a lawsuit from its own judges in US court, putting the court's internal operations and its standing in the world under strain all at once.
