ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan First To Be Hit By US Sanctions

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is the first person to be hit with economic and travel sanctions authorized by US President Donald Trump that target the war crimes tribunal over investigations of US citizens or US allies, two sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Khan, who is British, was named on Friday in an annex – not yet made public – to an executive order signed by Trump a day earlier, a senior ICC official and another source, both briefed by US government officials, told Reuters. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential matter.

The sanctions include freezing of US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.

Waiting the 60 days

The order directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in consultation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to submit a report within 60 days naming people who should be sanctioned.

The ICC on Friday condemned the sanctions, pledging to stand by its staff and “continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it.” Court officials met in The Hague on Friday to discuss the implications of the sanctions.

THE INTERNATIONAL Criminal Court in The Hague. (credit: PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW/REUTERS)

The International Criminal Court, which opened in 2002, has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in member states or if a situation is referred by the UN Security Council.

Dozens of countries warned on Friday that the US sanctions could “increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law.”

“Sanctions would severely undermine all situations currently under investigation as the Court may have to close its field offices,” the 79 countries – who make up about two-thirds of the court’s members – said in a statement.

UN deal with US

Under an agreement between the United Nations and Washington, Khan should be able to regularly travel to New York to brief the UN Security Council on cases it had referred to the court in The Hague. The Security Council has referred the situations in Libya and Sudan’s Darfur region to the ICC.

“We trust that any restrictions taken against individuals would be implemented consistently with the host country’s obligations under the UN Headquarters agreement,” deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Friday.

Khan was most recently in New York last week to brief the Security Council on Sudan.

“International criminal law is an essential element to fighting impunity, which is unfortunately widespread,” Haq said. “The International Criminal Court is its essential element, and it must be allowed to work in full independence.”

Trump’s move on Thursday – repeating action he took during his first term – coincided with a visit to Washington by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who – along with his former defense minister and a leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas – is wanted by the ICC over the war in the Gaza.

During a visit to the US Congress on Friday, Netanyahu praised Trump’s move, describing the court as a “scandalous” organization “that threatens the right of all democracies to defend themselves.”

(Reuters)