US Sanctions Canadian ICC Judge, Three Officials over War Crimes Investigations

The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on four International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, including Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, for their roles in authorizing investigations into alleged war crimes by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and Israeli leaders. These sanctions, announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, freeze assets and restrict financial transactions of the targeted officials under an executive order signed by President Trump, aimed at protecting U.S. and Israeli nationals from what the administration calls politically motivated prosecutions. Prost was sanctioned for her 2020 ruling authorizing the ICC investigation into Afghanistan, while French judge Nicolas Guillou and two deputy prosecutors from Fiji and Senegal were targeted for their involvement in issuing and upholding arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The U.S. government views the ICC's actions as illegitimate judicial overreach and a threat to national sovereignty, noting that neither the U.S. nor Israel recognize the court's jurisdiction. The ICC has condemned the sanctions as attempts to undermine the court's independence, and these measures represent a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and the ICC. This confrontation complicates the ICC's efforts to address major cases, including alleged war crimes related to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.