US announces sanctions on ICC president and senior lawyer

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has announced sanctions against the president and a senior lawyer of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The US imposed sanctions on Tuesday on Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge who is president of the ICC, and ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, according to the US Treasury Department website. Rubio accused the individuals of directly engaging "in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction". He called the institution "a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate", and added, "we will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty" . This latest move comes on top of sanctions already imposed by the Trump administration on at least 11 ICC officials, including nine judges and the chief prosecutor. Japanese Judge Tomoko Akane, president of the International Criminal Court, delivers a speech in Tokyo, on 14 June 2024 (Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP)