February 8, 2025
International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan is the first person from the war crimes tribunal to be hit by US sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump, Reuters reported on 8 February.
International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan is the first person from the war crimes tribunal to be hit by US sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump, Reuters reported on 8 February.
A senior ICC official and another source speaking with the news agency said that Khan was named on Friday in an annex to an executive order signed by Trump a day earlier imposing economic and travel sanctions on ICC staff and their families.
Trump imposed the sanctions on the court in response to arrest warrants it issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Both are accused by Khan and the court of committing war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
Israel's war on Gaza has devastated the besieged enclave and killed at least 47,000 people, according to local health authorities. Some estimates of the death toll suggest Israel has killed nearly two hundred thousand or more.
Reuters notes that Trump's sanctions include freezing US assets of those designated and prohibiting them and their families from visiting the US.
The order directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to submit the names of those individuals to be sanctioned within 60 days, Reuters added.
Netanyahu was pleased with Trump's decision, calling the court a "scandalous" organization "that threatens the right of all democracies to defend themselves."
In response, the ICC condemned Trump's executive order and vowed to "continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it."
The ICC has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in member states or if the UN Security Council refers a situation. Neither the US nor Israel recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court.
Nearly 80 countries warned that Trump's decision 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 countries said in a statement.
In September, Khan said that ICC officials were receiving personal "threats" from supporters of Russia and Israel.
"If we allow these types of attacks ... threats … to dismantle or erode the legal institutions that have been built since the Second World War, does anybody believe it will end with the International Criminal Court?" warned Khan.
"You cannot allow an attack on the court … then you have no rules-based system," said Khan, adding: "It's better for the country and better for the world, almost invariably, to have the courage to stand on principle rather than standing on expediency," he stated.
Trump imposed the sanctions on the court in response to arrest warrants it issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Both are accused by Khan and the court of committing war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, including using starvation as a weapon of war.
Israel's war on Gaza has devastated the besieged enclave and killed at least 47,000 people, according to local health authorities. Some estimates of the death toll suggest Israel has killed nearly two hundred thousand or more.
Reuters notes that Trump's sanctions include freezing US assets of those designated and prohibiting them and their families from visiting the US.
The order directed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to submit the names of those individuals to be sanctioned within 60 days, Reuters added.
Netanyahu was pleased with Trump's decision, calling the court a "scandalous" organization "that threatens the right of all democracies to defend themselves."
In response, the ICC condemned Trump's executive order and vowed to "continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world, in all situations before it."
The ICC has international jurisdiction to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in member states or if the UN Security Council refers a situation. Neither the US nor Israel recognize the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court.
Nearly 80 countries warned that Trump's decision 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 countries said in a statement.
In September, Khan said that ICC officials were receiving personal "threats" from supporters of Russia and Israel.
"If we allow these types of attacks ... threats … to dismantle or erode the legal institutions that have been built since the Second World War, does anybody believe it will end with the International Criminal Court?" warned Khan.
"You cannot allow an attack on the court … then you have no rules-based system," said Khan, adding: "It's better for the country and better for the world, almost invariably, to have the courage to stand on principle rather than standing on expediency," he stated.
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