The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan is the first person to be hit by economic and traveling sanctions authorized by US President Donald Trump, against investigations by Americans by the war crimes court, two sources reported on the matter told Reuters told the subject This Friday (7).
Khan, who is British, was appointed on Friday in an annex, which has not yet been made public, to an executive order signed by Trump on Thursday (6), told Reuters a high TPI employee and another source, both informed by US government officials.
They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential issue.
Sanctions include the freezing of US assets of those designated and preventing them and their families from visiting the United States.
The order instructed the Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, in consultation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to send a report within 60 days by naming the people who should be sanctioned.
The ICC condemned sanctions on Friday, promising to support his team and “continue to provide justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities around the world, in all situations before him.” Court’s authorities met in Hague this Friday to discuss the implications of sanctions.
The International Criminal Court, opened in 2002, has international jurisdiction to process genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in states that integrate it or whether a situation is sent by the UN Security Council.
Dozens of countries warned on Friday that US sanctions could “increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the state of international law.”
“Sanctions would severely harm all situations currently under investigation, as the court may have to close its field offices,” said the 79 countries – which make up about two thirds of the court members – in a statement.
Under an agreement between the United Nations and Washington, Khan must travel regularly to New York to inform the UN Security Council on cases he referred to the Hague court. The Security Council referred situations in Libya and the Darfur region of Sudan to the ICC.
“We trust that any restrictions taken against individuals would be implemented consistently with the host’s obligations under the agreement of the UN headquarters,” said UN Farhan Haq’s deputy spokesman on Friday.
Khan was in New York last week to inform the Security Council about Sudan.
“International criminal law is an essential element to combat impunity, which is unfortunately widespread,” said Haq. “The international criminal court is its essential element, and must be allowed to work with total independence.”
Trump’s action on Thursday-repeating as he took during his first term-coincided with a visit to Washington of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is sought by the ICC due to the war in Gaza.
During a visit to the US Congress on Friday, Netanyahu praised Trump’s action, describing the court as a “scandalous” organization “that threatens the right of all democracies to defend themselves.”
This content was originally published in TPI attorney is the target of Trump’s sanctions, sources say on CNN Brazil.
Source: CNN Brasil
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