Tokyo objected on Wednesday to sanctions imposed by the United States against International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane of Japan, calling Washington\u2019s latest salvo against the institution \u201cvery unfortunate.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The Donald Trump administration slapped sanctions on Akane and ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal on Tuesday, as part of Washington\u2019s campaign against what it calls a \u201ccorrupt and fatally politicised\u201d body.\n<\/p>\n
Japan has \u201cconsistently supported the ICC\u2026 in its efforts to prosecute and punish the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and to uphold the rule of law\u201d, foreign ministry press secretary Toshihiro Kitamura said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom this standpoint, the announced measures are very unfortunate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Japan is the biggest funder of the ICC and a close ally of the United States \u2014 which is not a party to the international treaty that established the court.\n<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio earlier said in a statement, without providing examples, that the sanctioned \u201cindividuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The ICC replied, saying the US sanctions \u201cundermine the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,\u201d the court said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n
Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.\n<\/p>\n
\u2013 Israeli support \u2013<\/p>\n
The US has already imposed sanctions against several of the court\u2019s officials.\n<\/p>\n
The measures bar them from entering the country and from carrying out transactions in the US financial system.\n<\/p>\n
It is largely a response to ICC investigations targeting Israel, a US ally. In 2024, the court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
In an X post Tuesday evening, Netanyahu applauded the US sanctions and called the ICC \u201ca kangaroo court that cloaks its abuse of power in the language of international law.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Netherlands, where the court is based at The Hague, \u201cdisapproves of the latest sanctions against officials and staff of the ICC,\u201d Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen wrote in an X post.<\/p>\n
\u201cInternational courts and tribunals must be able to freely carry out their mandates,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
Last month, Washington launched a major diplomatic offensive against the ICC, accusing it of \u201cthreatening\u201d Americans and calling on partners to withdraw from the body \u2014 a move already announced by Chad and Venezuela, which has aligned with the US since the capture and ouster of leader Nicolas Maduro.\n<\/p>\n
The ICC expressed concern over those withdrawals, asserting that such countries risked undermining the collective pursuit of justice.\n<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2018Contempt for international law\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n
The US signed the Rome Statute establishing the ICC but never ratified the treaty. Israel, Russia and China are not ICC members either.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Trump Administration has been clear: the International Criminal Court is a corrupt and fatally politicised supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate.\u00a0We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty,\u201d Rubio\u2019s statement said.\n<\/p>\n
Last week, four human rights groups sued US President Donald Trump in a New York court over his sanctions targeting the ICC, saying the measures block victims of war crimes from pursuing justice.\n<\/p>\n
One of the plaintiff groups, Human Rights Watch, decried the new sanctions in a statement on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The sanctions are \u201cjust the latest example of the Trump administration\u2019s utter contempt for international law and a naked attempt to shield American and Israeli officials implicated in serious crimes from justice,\u201d the rights group\u2019s Middle East and North Africa director Balkees Jarrah said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n
In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, prompting Moscow to issue its own arrest warrants for senior court officials.\n<\/p>\n
These included Akane, 70, an ICC judge since 2018 who was elected as the court\u2019s president in March 2024.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cEven if one judge were to die, we are easily replaceable, so there is really no value in targeting us,\u201d she said after the Russian announcement.\n<\/p>\n
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