Washington Sanctions ICC Prosecutor
Sudan Events – Agencies
The United States has imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan, a week after former President Donald Trump signed an executive order to that effect.
The U.S. Treasury Department stated that it sanctioned Khan under the provisions of the executive order issued by Trump on February 6. Khan, a British national, had initiated proceedings that led the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant at the end of 2024.
ICC judges found “reasonable grounds” to suspect that both men committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s war on Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli territory on October 7, 2023.
Trump’s executive order accuses the ICC of “taking unlawful and baseless actions against America and our close ally Israel,” referring also to the court’s investigation into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. The order bans ICC officials and their families from entering the United States, prohibits any individuals suspected of assisting ICC investigations, and freezes their U.S.-based assets.
The ICC, headquartered in The Hague, condemned the executive order as an attempt to undermine its “independent and impartial judicial work.” The United States and Israel are not members of the ICC, which was established as a permanent judicial body to prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Founded in 2002 and currently comprising 124 member states, the ICC has issued only a handful of convictions since its inception. During Trump’s first term, the ICC—particularly its former Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda—was targeted by U.S. sanctions, which were later lifted by former President Joe Biden shortly after taking office in 2021.
