Photo: Piroschka van de WouwI/Reuters
US President Donald Trump has imposed sanctions on the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Kareem Khan, following his decisions to arrest world leaders, including Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu.Reuters reports this with reference to sources in the US government.
The sanctions include a freeze on assets in the US and a travel ban on Khan and his family.
Why is Trump punishing the ICC prosecutor?
Kareem Khan, who has been head of the ICC since 2021, initiated arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova in 2023 for the deportation of Ukrainian children. And recently, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant over the events in Gaza.
In his executive order, Trump accused the Hague court of “abusing its power” and called the warrants themselves a “dangerous precedent” that threatens the US military and US allies.
Reaction of the international community
The sanctions against the ICC prosecutor provoked a mixed reaction. Benjamin Netanyahu openly welcomed Washington’s decision, calling it “a defence of democratic states against politically motivated persecution”.
At the same time, human rights organisations and international lawyers have criticised Trump’s actions as an unprecedented attack on the rule of law and the independence of international justice.
This move by the United States could lead to a deterioration in relations with European partners who support the ICC. This raises questions about the future of international justice and whether the court will be able to continue to hear cases without pressure from world powers.
