The United States imposed sanctions on 18 August 2026 on Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge serving as president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and Abdoulaye Seye, a Senegalese national working as a senior trial lawyer at the court. The move marks the most direct assault yet in Washington's escalating campaign against the Hague-based tribunal.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the measures, saying the two individuals "have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction." The sanctions were imposed under authority of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump authorising measures against the court.
The practical effect is immediate and broad. Akane and Seye are barred from entering the United States, excluded from the US financial system, and any assets they hold in the US are frozen. The US Treasury Department issued a general licence allowing existing transactions involving the two individuals to be wound down by 17 September 2026.
The ICC, established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, hit back swiftly. In a formal statement, the court said the sanctions "undermine the rule of law" and warned that "when judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk." The court said it remains "undeterred" and "stands firmly behind its personnel and behind victims of unimaginable atrocities."
The US has never joined the Rome Statute, the international treaty that created and underpins the ICC, and has long resisted the court's jurisdiction over officials of non-member states. Washington had already sanctioned several other ICC officials before the 18 August action. Targeting the court's sitting president, however, is a step with no clear precedent in the US-ICC standoff.
The Trump administration's campaign against the court is largely driven by ICC actions targeting Israel, including an arrest warrant issued in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza. Washington has accused the court of being politicised, a charge the ICC denies.
It remains unclear whether the sanctions will materially impede Akane's or Seye's ability to carry out their duties at the court, which is based in the Netherlands. It is also unknown whether ICC member states will mount a coordinated diplomatic or legal response, or whether the Trump administration intends to expand its sanctions list to include additional judges or prosecutors.
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