U.S. Imposes New Sanctions on Four ICC Officials

Latest Developments

Fresh Sanctions Against ICC: The U.S. State Department issued fresh sanctions against four International Criminal Court (ICC) judges and prosecutors on August 20 as part of President Trump’s Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court.” Judge Kimberly Prost of Canada, Judge Nicolas Guillou of France, Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameen Khan of Fiji, and Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal were designated for engaging “in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detail, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without consent of either nation,” according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Rubio confirmed that “it remains the policy of the United States Government to take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our troops, our sovereignty, and our allies from the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless accusations.”
Previous Rounds of Sanctions: The ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, prompting Trump’s executive order sanctioning the court. In June, the State Department levied sanctions against four other ICC judges, a move the court called “an attempt to undermine the independence of an international judicial institution.” The court also authorized an investigation in March 2020 that accused the United States of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan since 2003, which led to U.S. sanctions against ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and one of her aides in late 2020.
Israel Welcomes Sanctions: Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar stated that he “commend[s] Secretary Rubio for again standing on the side of truth and justice and imposing sanctions against judges of the so-called ‘International Criminal Court’.” He accused the ICC of undermining “international law in its zest to harm Americans [and] Israelis.” Netanyahu’s office released a statement congratulating Rubio for imposing the sanctions, adding that “this is a firm measure against the mendacious smear campaign against the State of Israel and the IDF, and for truth and justice.”

FDD Expert Response

“It’s clear the Trump administration is methodically implementing the ICC sanctions to force the court to shut down its illicit activities targeting democracies like the United States and Israel. There are many more targets still not designated — people and organizations that are still conducting lawfare against our countries. It’s time to cast the net wide and grind these attacks to a halt.” — Richard Goldberg, Senior Advisor

“The ICC has brought these proceedings in a politically motivated fashion while ignoring significant human rights violations by China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea. The court has failed to live up to its mandate as a neutral arbitrator for the international community.” — Tyler Stapleton, Director of Government Relations, FDD Action