ByREUTERS

The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge who is president of the International Criminal Court, according to the US Treasury Department website.

The move is the latest escalation in the Trump administration's campaign against The Hague-based court, which was established in 2002 by the international community to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. The US is not a member of the court.

The US last year imposed targeted sanctions on several ICC officials, including prosecutors and judges, citing ⁠the ICC's ​arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant, ​and a past probe into US troops in Afghanistan.

The sanctions freeze any US assets the individuals may have and essentially cut them off from the US financial system, with which almost all internationally operating banks have close ties.

In June, three International Criminal Court judges sued Trump and his administration over the sanctions, arguing the measures were unlawful.

Japanese Judge Tomoko Akane, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), delivers a speech during a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
Japanese Judge Tomoko Akane, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), delivers a speech during a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo. (credit: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP via Getty Images)

Rubio stepping up efforts to undermine ICC

The Treasury also issued a general license on Tuesday authorizing the wind-down of transactions involving Akane through September 17.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last month said the administration would step up efforts to undermine the ICC, including with a diplomatic campaign aimed at persuading other countries to quit the institution. Rubio argued that the court posed a threat to US personnel carrying out Trump's hardline immigration policies or strikes on boats accused of carrying drugs, as well as other US service members.

Trump has said the campaign was aimed at defending Netanyahu and others from prosecution, rather than Trump himself.

Reuters found the Trump administration sanctions against ICC officials were intended in part to head off any future attempts to hold the Republican ​president or his officials accountable for US military action overseas.

The United States ​has never been a member of the court. The ICC asserts jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself.

However, the ICC statute also gives the court the power to prosecute atrocity crimes committed on the territory of member states by ​nationals of non-member states.