US sanctions ICC president, senior lawyer
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with members of the media before departing for Bahrain International Airport after his visit to the Middle East to discuss the interim deal between the US and Iran with Arab Gulf allies, in Manama, Bahrain, June 25, 2026. REUTERS
The US imposed sanctions on Tuesday on the International Criminal Court's president and a senior trial lawyer at the court, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
The move is the latest escalation in the Trump administration's campaign against The Hague-based court, which was established in 2002 by
the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide
and crimes against humanity. The US is not a member of the court.
Rubio said in a statement that he was imposing sanctions on Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge who is president of the International Criminal Court, and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior trial lawyer and a Senegalese national, under a Trump executive order last year
authorizing sanctions against the court.
"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.
The US imposed targeted sanctions last year on several ICC officials, including prosecutors and judges, citing the ICC's arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant as well as a past probe into US troops in Afghanistan.
The sanctions freeze any US assets the individuals may have and essentially cut them off from the US financial system, with which almost all internationally operating banks have close ties.
Three International Criminal Court judges sued Trump and his administration in June over the sanctions, arguing that the measures were unlawful.
The Treasury also issued a general license on Tuesday authorizing the wind-down of transactions involving Akane through September 17.
Rubio said last month that the administration would step up efforts to undermine the ICC, including a diplomatic campaign aimed at persuading other countries to quit the institution. Rubio argued that the court posed a threat to US personnel carrying out US President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies
or strikes on boats accused of carrying drugs, as
well as other US service members.