Marco Rubio sanctions four more International Criminal Court officials
Aug. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sanctioned four more members of the International Criminal Court for attempts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute individuals in non-member states.
ICC Judges Kimberly Prost of Canada and Nicolas Guillou or France and deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal are subject to U.S. sanctions, Rubio announced in a State Department release on Wednesday.
"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," Rubio said.
"The court is a national security threat that has been an instrument of lawfare against the United States and our close ally Israel."
Prost is sanctioned for authorizing an ICC investigation of U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, while Guillou is sanctioned for authorizing the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Khan and Niang are sanctioned for continuing to support "illegitimate ICC actions" targeting Netanyahu and Gallant since each assumed leadership of the ICC's Office of the Prosecutor.
The sanctions of the four individuals mean all of their property and interests in property that are located in the United States or under the control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The sanctions also block all entities that the individuals either directly or indirectly own or in which they have at least a 50% interest.
Individuals and entities are prohibited from contributing funds, goods or services to the four ICC officials or receiving the same from them.
The ICC rejected the sanctions in an online statement on Wednesday.
"These sanctions are a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution which operates under the mandate from 125 states parties from all regions," ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah said.
"The ICC will continue fulfilling its mandates, undeterred, in strict accordance with its legal framework as adopted by the states parties without regard to any restriction, pressure or threat," El Abdallah said.
The United States in June also sanctioned ICC Judges Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru and Beti Hohler of Slovenia, plus ICC Second Vice-President Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin.
Neither the United States nor Israel is part of the 125-member ICC, which was established in Rome in 2002, following the adoption of the Rome Statute in 1998 by the ICC's member states.
The ICC is comprised of 33 African, 28 Latin American and Caribbean, 20 Eastern European, 19 Asia-Pacific and 25 Western European and other states.
U.S. neighbors Canada and Mexico are among the ICC's member states.
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