ICC condemns US sanctions on its president and senior lawyer as a threat to rule of law
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands. Established by the 1998 Rome Statute, it serves as a court of last resort, meaning it only steps in when national courts cannot or will not act. Photo: REUTERS/file
The US imposed sanctions Tuesday on International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane and official Abdoulaye Seye.
Akane, a Japanese national who has served as ICC president since 2024, and Seye, a Senegalese national, were added to the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) List, according to the agency’s website.
Both designations were made pursuant to Executive Order 14203, “Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court,” which US President Donald Trump signed on Feb. 6, 2025, and which has since been used to designate 10 ICC officials, including former Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan and eight judges.
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The listing blocks any US assets held by Akane and Seye, and bars Americans and entities from engaging in transactions with them.
The ICC condemned the move, saying in a statement that the measures undermined the rule of law.
“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the ICC said.
The move comes as Washington intensified pressure on the court after it issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Akane and Seye of “directly” engaging in efforts by the ICC to “investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.”
Last month, I launched a diplomatic campaign to dismantle the ICC’s threat to our national sovereignty. The Trump Administration is sanctioning ICC President Tomoko Akane and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye in our unwavering mission to protect Americans from this sham of a…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) August 18, 2026
“Our whole of government campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the ICC to national sovereignty will be sweeping, and we expect more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicized and unaccountable court,” he added.
The US State Department last month launched a campaign aimed at dismantling what the Trump administration has described as a threat by the ICC to “American sovereignty.”
Speaking at Camp David last month, Rubio said the ICC had “made themselves illegitimate” by claiming jurisdiction over countries that are not members of the court. The US and Israel are not parties to the ICC.
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Trump then said Rubio was seeking to “defend Bibi and various other people,” a reference to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Akane, the ICC’s sixth president and first Japanese national to hold the post, has repeatedly criticized the sanctions campaign since it began, telling the court’s Assembly of States Parties in December that the measures would not alter how judges interpret their mandate.
“We will never accept any kind of pressures from anyone on issues of interpretation of the statutory framework and adjudication of cases,” Akane told the assembly, stressing that the court’s “independence and impartiality are our polar stars and remain unaffected.”
