U.S. Sanctions ICC President in Escalating Clash With The Hague

The U.S. State Department announced Tuesday evening that it has decided to impose sanctions on the president of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Japanese Judge Tomoko Akane. Sanctions will also be imposed on Abdoulaye Seye, a senior lawyer on the court’s prosecution team.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the move, arguing that the two "were directly involved in the court’s efforts to investigate, arrest, or prosecute officials whose governments had not consented to the court’s jurisdiction."

Under the decision, any assets the two may hold in the United States will be frozen, and they will effectively be cut off from the American financial system. The move follows sanctions the U.S. imposed last year on judges and prosecutors at the court, including over the arrest warrants issued for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.