US sanctions ICC judges – including former UN ombudsperson Prost

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions, 20 August, against four officials of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’), pursuant to Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14203 of February – and expanding the number of ICC officials now subject to US sanctions.

Rubio said the individuals are ‘foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,’ and described the ICC as a ‘bankrupt institution.’

They include judges Kimberly Prost of Canada, Nicolas Guillou of France, and deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.

The US Secretary of State said that the United States had been ‘clear and steadfast’ in its opposition to the ICC’s ‘politicization, abuse of power, disregard for our national sovereignty, and illegitimate judicial overreach’ and described it as an ‘instrument for lawfare’ against the United States and Israel.

The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (‘OFAC’) said Prost has been designated for ‘ruling to authorize the ICC’s investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan,’ and that Guillou has been designated for ‘ruling to authorize the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.’

Deputy prosecutors Shameem Khan and Niang were designated for supporting ICC actions against Israel, it said.

Former sanctions ombudsperson a US target

Kimberly Prost was the subject of an interview piece in WorldECR in 2014, in her capacity as Ombudsperson of the UNSC’s 1267 (Al-Qaida) Committee. She had previously served as a federal prosecutor with the Canadian Department of Justice, head of the Criminal Law Section of the Commonwealth Secretariat, and a judge before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The ICC is currently also investigating allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC, the Darfur region of Sudan, Libya, Ivory Coast, and Ukraine amongst other countries and regions.

In a statement, the French government said that it was ‘appalled’ by the sanctions, which it called on the United States to withdraw, describing them as an attack on the Court and an on all 125 States Parties to the Rome Statute. It said that the sanctions are ‘contrary to the principle of the independence of the judicial system.’

The ICC has also issued a statement calling the sanctions an affront to the ‘rules-based order…and millions of innocent victims around the world.’

WorldECR has contacted the Canadian government for comment on the sanctions against Kimberly Prost, but as at writing has not received a response.