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Washington, DC – The United States has issued a caller circular of sanctions against unit members astatine the International Criminal Court, citing a caller ruling blocking Israel’s effort to halt a Gaza warfare crimes investigation.
Thursday’s sanctions people 2 judges: Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia.
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In a statement, US Secretary of State Rubio said the judges “have straight engaged successful efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, oregon prosecute Israeli nationals, without Israel’s consent”.
He besides faulted Lordkipanidze and Damdin for “voting with the majority” connected December 15, erstwhile the ICC rejected Israel’s effort to intermission the warfare crimes probe.
The US is Israel’s state and has supported its genocidal warfare successful Gaza by continuing to proviso the state with billions successful subject and economical aid.
“The ICC has continued to prosecute successful politicized actions targeting Israel, which acceptable a unsafe precedent for each nations,” Rubio said successful the statement.
The sanctions are the latest successful a bid of economical restrictions the medication of US President Donald Trump has placed connected ICC members and their associates.
Critics pass specified actions could chill investigations crossed the satellite and person wide-ranging implications for prosecutors, judges and adjacent witnesses.
In February, for instance, the Trump medication issued wide sanctions targeting ICC unit and anyone assisting the court’s investigations against the US and its allies.
The Trump White House continued by issuing idiosyncratic sanctions against judges and prosecutors it disagreed with.
In June, four judges were sanctioned, 2 of whom participated successful probes regarding US unit successful Afghanistan. The different 2 were progressive successful the determination to contented apprehension warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his erstwhile Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Then, successful August, the US expanded the sanctions, taking actions against 2 much judges and 2 ICC prosecutors.
Even entities extracurricular the ICC person been deed with economical penalties arsenic a effect of their information successful its investigations.
Last September, Rubio announced that 3 non-governmental organisations — Al Haq, the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights — would besides look sanctions for helping the ICC “investigate, arrest, detain, oregon prosecute Israeli nationals”.
In a connection connected Thursday, the tribunal decried the latest US actions arsenic a “flagrant onslaught against the independency of an impartial judicial institution”. It nevertheless pledged to transportation retired its mandate, contempt US pressure.
“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the planetary ineligible bid itself that is placed astatine risk,” it said.
The sanctions travel successful portion arsenic a protestation against the ICC’s determination successful November 2024 to contented apprehension warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged warfare crimes successful Gaza.
The tribunal besides issued apprehension warrants for respective Hamas leaders, who were subsequently killed successful Israeli operations.
The Trump medication has besides pressured the tribunal to officially extremity an probe into US forces’ behaviour during its 2 decennary deployment successful Afghanistan.
The US and Israel are not members of the ICC, and the Trump medication argues the tribunal has exceeded its jurisdiction by investigating US and Israeli citizens.
“We volition not tolerate ICC abuses of powerfulness that interruption the sovereignty of the United States and Israel and wrongly taxable US and Israeli persons to the ICC’s jurisdiction,” Rubio said connected Thursday.
But the tribunal has maintained it tin analyse abuses committed by the 2 countries wrong the borders of its signatories, including the occupied Palestinian territories.
In a station connected the societal media level X, Sarah Leah Whitson, the enforcement manager for the quality rights nonprofit Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said Rubio is “coddling Israeli warfare criminals”.
She added that the tribunal should “not hold to prosecute him for interfering with justice”.
Israeli officials person repeatedly cheered the Trump administration’s sanctions. Israel’s warfare successful Gaza has killed astatine slightest 171,152 Palestinians since October 7, 2023, erstwhile a Hamas-led onslaught connected confederate Israel killed 1,139 people.
The US besides announced sanctions connected Thursday against 29 vessels and absorption companies it said were linked to Iran.
English (US) ·