US Sanctions ICC President and Senior Prosecutor, Escalating Campaign Against the Court
On August 18, 2026, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions targeting International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane of Japan and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal. The measures, ordered by President Donald Trump, bring the total number of ICC officials sanctioned under this administration to at least 11, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor BBC.
Rubio accused Akane and Seye of directly participating in ICC efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose governments have not agreed to ICC jurisdiction — meaning their countries never joined the court and therefore do not recognize its authority over their citizens. He called the ICC "a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court" that had "maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate" BBC.
The sanctions impose concrete penalties: asset freezes, travel bans, and restrictions on services from US companies. Under Executive Order 14203, which authorizes sanctions on foreign persons engaged in certain ICC efforts the US considers harmful, all property and interests of designated individuals that are in the United States or held by US persons are blocked. Entities owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons are also blocked, and all transactions by US persons involving property of designated persons are prohibited unless authorized by a license from the Treasury Department's OFAC (the office that enforces economic and trade sanctions) U.S. State Department.
The conflict has two main flashpoints. First, the ICC opened an investigation into alleged war crimes by US military and intelligence personnel in Afghanistan. Second, the court issued arrest warrants for top Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged war crimes in Gaza. Netanyahu has denied the allegations and accused the ICC of antisemitism. Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the ICC BBC.
Earlier rounds of sanctions targeted specific judicial decisions. In August 2025, the State Department sanctioned Judge Kimberly Prost of Canada for authorizing the ICC's investigation into US personnel in Afghanistan. Judge Nicolas Yann Guillou was sanctioned for authorizing arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan and Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang were sanctioned for supporting ICC actions against Israel, including upholding the warrants U.S. State Department. The ICC criticized that August 2025 round as undermining judicial independence Reuters.
The broader context here is a systematic campaign to disable the court as an institution, not merely to shield individual officials. Rubio told the ICC's 125 member countries last month to withdraw from the court, describing the US objective as dismantling it "brick by brick." A US official said Washington would "watch with interest" who heeded the call and who did not BBC. Reuters reported in July that the administration backed the sanctions in part to prevent any future attempts to hold US personnel accountable before the court Reuters.
Trump's opposition to the ICC dates back to his first term, when he told the UN General Assembly the court had "no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority" as far as the US is concerned BBC.
The campaign faces legal challenges on multiple fronts. 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 argued the sanctions were designed to exert extrajudicial pressure with the objective of punishing and coercing the judges BBC. Separately, Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Institute, the American Friends Service Committee, and the Center for Constitutional Rights filed suit in New York, calling the sanctions unconstitutional and arguing the measures prevent them from working with the ICC to seek justice for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity BBC.
A White House official said Trump had lawfully exercised his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a law that lets the president regulate international commerce during a declared 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.
The ICC was established in 2002 and has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the UN Security Council BBC.
What makes the August 18 sanctions notable is the seniority of the targets. Sanctioning the court's president raises the pressure from individual judges to the institution's top leadership, signaling that no official within the ICC hierarchy is protected from US economic penalties. The concurrent call for member-state withdrawals, if it gains traction, would compound the financial and legal pressure by eroding the court's treaty base. For the 125 member states, the US threat to "watch with interest" frames withdrawal as a loyalty test with potential consequences for bilateral relations. For the ICC, the sanctions on its president arrive alongside pending litigation from its own judges in US federal court, creating a moment where the court's internal functioning and its external legitimacy are under pressure at the same time.
