US Sanctions ICC President Tomoko Akane and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye
The Facts
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane, a Japanese judge.
- Rubio also announced sanctions on Abdoulaye Seye, an ICC senior trial lawyer from Senegal.
- Rubio said the two had directly engaged in ICC efforts to investigate, arrest, detain or prosecute officials whose governments have not consented to ICC jurisdiction.
- The sanctions were imposed under an executive order issued by President Donald Trump authorizing measures against the ICC.
- The designations freeze any assets the two hold in US jurisdictions and largely cut them off from the US financial system.
- The ICC said in a statement that measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff undermine the rule of law.
- The ICC said it would not step back and would continue to fully carry out its mandate.
- The court said the US has now sanctioned nine of its 18 judges, both deputy prosecutors, its former chief prosecutor and another prosecution office staffer.
- Japan's foreign ministry called the sanctioning of Akane extremely regrettable and said Japan consistently supports the ICC.
- Seye worked on the ICC case concerning Israeli officials over the war in Gaza.
Context
What is the International Criminal Court, and is the US a member?
The ICC, based in The Hague, was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, and is empowered by more than 120 member states Aol BBC. The United States is not a member of the court Aol EL PAÍS.
How did these sanctions fit into earlier US actions against the court?
The ICC issued arrest warrants on Nov. 21, 2024, for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza Haberler Haberler. The US sanctioned ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan in June 2025 and four more court officials in August 2025 Haberler. In July, the State Department announced a campaign against what it called the ICC's threat to US sovereignty, promising further sanctions, visa revocations and appeals to other countries Коммерсант.… Life.ru.
What is the practical scope of the restrictions?
The US Treasury barred financial transactions with the two officials and extended the restrictions to any entity in which they directly or indirectly own 50% or more Коммерсант.… Life.ru. Treasury set a wind-down period until Sept. 17 for existing dealings N-tv. The ICC said the new restrictions would not affect its work Коммерсант.….
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Both reads accept that the designations hit named individuals personally — freezing assets, cutting off financial access — as deliberate pressure on a court that says it will not step back.
- Where Left and Right split
- Whether the story is about jurists being punished individually for doing their jobs, or about a court claiming authority over officials whose governments never consented to it.
How left and right read it
The credibility of every international institution the United States claims to champion is what's being spent here, and it is being spent to punish individual jurists for doing their jobs. Nine of eighteen judges, both deputy prosecutors, a former chief prosecutor — now the court's president and a senior trial lawyer whose work reached Gaza, all frozen out of the US financial system by executive order. That is coercion aimed at people, not policy. If a court can be disciplined by cutting off its judges' bank accounts, what is left of the rule of law Washington asks others to respect?
“Marco Rubio announced measures against Tomoko Akane and Abdoulaye Seye, who was investigating Israel's war crimes in Gaza” — The Guardian
Consent is what makes jurisdiction legitimate, and no American official was ever placed under this court's authority by his own government. That is why the designations of Akane and Seye rest on what they did: pursuing investigation, arrest and prosecution of officials whose governments never consented — and the court answers that it will not step back. Neither should Washington.
“Tomoko Akane, the ICC president, of Japan and Abdoulaye Seye, a senior Senegalese trial lawyer, were targeted as part of the Trump administration's latest salvo against the "politicised" court.” — The Telegraph
The receipts — all 100 sources
Wire services (6)
Independent coverage (50)
Facts first. Then every angle.
The day’s biggest stories in one short brief — the facts everyone agrees on, then the competing values behind the headlines. Free in your inbox.