Washington DC [US], August 21: The US government is imposing sanctions on further judges and prosecutors from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was taken "in response to the ICC's ongoing threat to Americans and Israelis."Rubio said the four individuals were involved in ICC efforts "to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation."
Kimberly Prost from Canada, Nicolas Guillou from France, Nazhat Shameem Khan from Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang from Senegal were placed on the sanctions list.
Rubio accused the court of "politicization, abuse of power, disregard for [US] national sovereignty and illegitimate judicial overreach," calling it a "national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and [its] close ally Israel."
As a result of the sanctions, any property of the four individuals in the United States will be frozen.
In addition, US companies and US citizens are no longer allowed to do business with them. There was no mention of an entry ban. Washington previously imposed sanctions on four iCC judges in June.
The court has been prosecuting the most serious crimes, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, since 2002. All EU member states are members of the court. However, the United States, Israel and Russia are not signatories.
Source: Qatar Tribune
