Trump administration sanctions ICC officials for efforts to arrest Americans, Israelis
The sanctions were slapped on two judges and two prosecutors at the ICC: France's Nicolas Yann Guillou, Fiji's Nazhat Shameem Khan, Senegal's Mame Mandiaye Niang and Canada's Kimberly Prost.
'The United States has been clear and steadfast in our opposition to the ICC's politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach. The Court is a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Wednesday.
Last November, ICC judges released arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ex-Israeli defense head Yoav Gallant and former Hamas commander Ibrahim al-Masri, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity in light of Israel's war with the Palestinian militant group.
The State Department hit Prost for a ruling greenlighting the ICC's probe into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Guillou, the French judge, was sanctioned for a ruling to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Niang and Khan are the ICC's deputy prosecutors. Both were sanctioned for 'continuing to support illegitimate ICC actions against' Israel, including upholding the ICC's arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
Israel asked judges in May to strike the ICC's arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister and former defense minister.
The Trump administration imposed sanctions on four ICC judges over what the U.S. government has deemed as 'illegitimate and baseless actions' against Washington and Jerusalem.
In early July, the administration levied sanctions against United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, over her political 'warfare' against Israel.
'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 actions,' Rubio said on Wednesday.
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