Trump’s Sanctions On ICC Prosecutor Have Halted Tribunal’s Work

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court ’s chief prosecutor has misplaced entry to his electronic mail, and his financial institution accounts have been frozen.

The Hague-based court docket’s American staffers have been advised that in the event that they journey to the U.S. they danger arrest.

Some nongovernmental organizations have stopped working with the ICC and the leaders of 1 gained’t even reply to emails from court docket officers.

These are simply a few of the hurdles going through court docket employees since U.S. President Donald Trump in February slapped sanctions on its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, in keeping with interviews with present and former ICC officers, worldwide legal professionals and human rights advocates.

The sanctions will “forestall victims from gaining access to justice,” stated Liz Evenson, worldwide justice director at Human Rights Watch.

Trump sanctioned the court docket after a panel of ICC judges in November issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former protection minister, Yoav Gallant.

Judges discovered there was motive to imagine that the pair could have dedicated battle crimes by proscribing humanitarian assist and deliberately concentrating on civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — prices Israeli officers deny.

Staffers and allies of the ICC stated the sanctions have made it more and more troublesome for the tribunal to conduct primary duties, not to mention search justice for victims of war crimes or genocide.

A spokesperson for the ICC and for Khan declined to remark. In February, ICC President Choose Tomoko Akane stated that the sanctions “represent critical assaults in opposition to the Courtroom’s States Events, the rule of legislation based mostly worldwide order and tens of millions of victims.”

The February order bans Khan and different non-Individuals among the many ICC’s 900 employees members from coming into the U.S., which isn’t a member of the court docket. It additionally threatens any particular person, establishment or firm with fines and jail time if they supply Khan with “monetary, materials, or technological assist.”

The sanctions are hampering work on a broad array of investigations, not simply the one into Israel’s leaders.

The ICC had been investigating atrocities in Sudan and had issued arrest warrants for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on prices that embody genocide. That probe has floor to a halt even as reports mount of new atrocities in Sudan, in keeping with an lawyer representing ICC prosecutor Eric Iverson, who’s combating the sanctions in U.S. courts. Iverson filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to the Trump administration in search of safety from the sanctions.

Iverson “can not do, what I’d describe as, primary lawyer capabilities,” stated Allison Miller, who’s representing Iverson within the swimsuit.

American staffers on the group, like Iverson, have been warned by its attorneys that they danger arrest in the event that they return residence to go to household, in keeping with ICC officers. Six senior officers have left the court docket over considerations about sanctions.

One motive the the court docket has been hamstrung is that it depends closely on contractors and non-governmental organizations. These companies and teams have curtailed work on behalf of the court docket as a result of they have been involved about being focused by U.S. authorities, in keeping with present and former ICC staffers.

Microsoft, for instance, cancelled Khan’s electronic mail tackle, forcing the prosecutor to maneuver to Proton Mail, a Swiss electronic mail supplier, ICC staffers stated. His financial institution accounts in his residence nation of the U.Okay. have been blocked.

Microsoft didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Staffers at an NGO that performs an integral function within the court docket’s efforts to assemble proof and discover witnesses stated the group has transferred cash out of U.S. financial institution accounts as a result of they concern it is likely to be seized by the Trump administration.

Senior management at two different U.S.-based human rights organizations advised the AP that their teams have stopped working with the ICC. A senior staffer at one advised the AP that staff have stopped replying to emails from court docket officers out of concern of triggering a response from the Trump administration.

The cumulative impact of such actions has led ICC staffers to brazenly ponder whether the group can survive the Trump administration, in keeping with ICC officers who spoke on situation of anonymity out of concern of reprisal.

One questioned whether or not the court docket would make it by means of the subsequent 4 years.

Trump, a staunch supporter of Netanyahu, issued his sanctions order shortly after re-taking workplace, accusing the ICC of “illegitimate and baseless actions concentrating on America and our shut ally Israel.” Washington says the court docket has no jurisdiction over Israel.

Trump’s order stated the ICC’s “actions in opposition to Israel and the USA set a harmful precedent, instantly endangering present and former United States personnel, together with lively service members of the Armed Forces.” He stated the court docket’s “malign conduct” threatens “the sovereignty of the USA and undermines the crucial nationwide safety and overseas coverage work of the USA Authorities.”

The White Home didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Netanyahu has dismissed the ICC’s allegations as “absurd,” and Israel’s Knesset is contemplating laws that will make offering proof to the court docket a criminal offense.

Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel in October 2023, killing about 1,200 individuals, largely civilians, and abducting scores of others. Hamas is believed to be holding about two dozen hostages.

Contained in the court docket, staffers have been dealing with darkish humor, joking about how they can not even mortgage Khan a pen or danger showing on the U.S. radar.

This isn’t the primary time the ICC has drawn Trump’s ire. In 2020, the previous Trump administration sanctioned Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, and one in every of her deputies over the court docket’s investigation into alleged crimes dedicated in Afghanistan whereas the U.S. army was working within the nation.

President Joe Biden rescinded the sanctions when he took workplace a number of months later.

Three lawsuits at the moment are pending from U.S. court docket employees and consultants in opposition to the Trump administration arguing that the sanctions infringe on their freedom of expression. Earlier this week Iverson, the lawyer investigating genocide in Sudan, gained non permanent safety from prosecution. But when different U.S. residents on the court docket need a related assurance, they must deliver their very own grievance.

In the meantime, the court docket is going through a scarcity of cooperation from international locations usually thought-about to be its staunchest supporters.

The ICC has no enforcement equipment of its personal and depends on member states. Within the final 12 months, three international locations – together with two within the European Union – have refused to execute warrants issued by the court docket.

Additionally in current months, judges have banned Khan from publicizing his requests for warrants in a number of investigations. The primary such ban, imposed in February and obtained by AP, focused warrants within the court docket’s investigation into battle crimes in Afghanistan. Subsequent orders, additionally seen by AP, embody a ban on the publication of warrant requests within the investigation into crimes within the Palestinian territories.

The court docket was already going through inside challenges. Final 12 months, simply weeks earlier than Khan introduced he was requesting arrest warrants for the Israeli officers, two court docket employees reported the British barrister had harassed a feminine aide, according to reporting by the AP.

Khan has categorically denied the accusations that he groped and tried to coerce a feminine aide right into a sexual relationship. A United Nations investigation is underway, and Khan has since been accused of retaliating in opposition to employees who supported the lady, together with demoting a number of individuals he felt have been crucial of him.

Related Press author Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, contributed to this report.