Rubio Sanctions ICC President and Trial Lawyer Over Israel Jurisdiction Case

The US Treasury Department listed two new names on its sanctions rolls Tuesday: Tomoko Akane, the Japanese judge who serves as president of the International Criminal Court, and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior ICC trial lawyer from Senegal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the designations, accusing both officials of engaging "in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction," according to the Treasury Department website. The United States is not a member of the ICC and has never accepted its jurisdiction over American nationals. Israel is also not a member state.

"We will not tolerate its assault on state sovereignty," Rubio said of the court, which he described as "a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate."

The sanctions do not name Israel or Gaza directly in the Treasury notice as reported. But they land against the backdrop of the ICC's ongoing investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including arrest warrants issued in 2024 for former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the conduct of Israel's military campaign. Akane sits atop the court that issued those warrants. Seye is a senior trial lawyer inside the office that helped build the case.

A widening list

Tuesday's action is not the administration's first strike at the court. The Trump administration has now imposed sanctions on at least 11 other ICC officials, including nine judges and the court's chief prosecutor, according to Middle East Eye's reporting. With Akane and Seye added, the total climbs past a dozen individuals tied to the world's only permanent international war crimes tribunal.

Sanctions under the relevant executive authority typically freeze any US assets held by the designated individuals and bar American persons and institutions from transactions with them, effectively isolating ICC leadership from US financial and legal systems.

What the sanctions do not change

The ICC's arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant remain in effect. Israel disputes the court's jurisdiction, a position the Trump administration has now embedded directly into US sanctions policy by treating ICC officials who "engage in efforts" to enforce that jurisdiction as sanctionable actors in their own right, regardless of nationality or the case involved.

Neither Akane nor Seye has issued a public response cited in available reporting. The ICC itself has previously said sanctions against its officials amount to attacks on the independence of judicial proceedings and the rule of law.