US Sanctions Additional ICC Members for Lawfare

The International Criminal Court, or ICC, “continues to disregard national sovereignty and facilitate lawfare through efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute American and Israeli nationals,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a post on X. “In response,” he said, “I am sanctioning four additional ICC officials.”

The State Department has designated two ICC judges and two deputy prosecutors for having directly engaged in any effort by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute a protected person without consent of that person’s country of nationality. They include Judge Kimberly Prost, Judge Nicolas Yann Guillou, Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan, and Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang.

Prost is being designated for ruling to authorize the ICC’s investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan. Guillou is being designated for ruling to authorize the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.

Deputy Prosecutors Shameem Khan and Niang are being designated for continuing to support illegitimate ICC actions against Israel, including upholding the ICC’s arrest warrants targeting Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant since they assumed leadership for the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor.

The sanctions block all property and interests of the designated officials within U.S. jurisdiction and prohibit U.S. persons from engaging in transactions with them.

The United States has been “clear and steadfast in [its] opposition to the ICC’s politicization, abuse of power, disregard for [U.S.] national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach,” said Secretary Rubio in a statement. He called the Court “a national security threat that has been an instrument for lawfare against the United States and [its] close ally Israel.”

It remains the policy of the United States government to take whatever actions necessary to protect its troops, sovereignty, and allies from the ICC’s “illegitimate and baseless actions,” said Secretary Rubio.

He urged countries that “still support the ICC, many of whose freedom was purchased at the price of great American sacrifices, to resist the claims of this bankrupt institution.”

“We will continue to hold accountable,” said Secretary Rubio, “those responsible for the ICC’s morally bankrupt and legally baseless actions against Americans and Israelis.”