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United States Sanctions ICC President Tomoko Akane Amid Campaign to Dismantle Court

evening · · thread: Chad Announces Withdrawal from International Criminal Court

10 sources across 7 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Asahi Shimbun Japan · Centre-left · Asahi Shimbun Company (family and employee held)
  • Kyodo News Japan · Centre · Non-profit publisher cooperative
  • The Japan Times Japan · Centre · News2u Holdings
  • The Guardian United Kingdom · Centre-left · Scott Trust Limited
  • Reuters United Kingdom · Centre · Thomson Reuters Corporation
  • La Tercera Chile · Centre-right · Copesa (Saieh family)
  • El Espectador Colombia · Centre-left · Grupo Santo Domingo
  • Deutsche Welle Germany · Centre · Public · German federal public-law corporation
  • Al Jazeera Qatar · Centre-left · State-affiliated · Qatari government funded
  • El Pais Spain · Centre-left · Grupo PRISA

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

The United States government has imposed sanctions on the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Tomoko Akane, and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the ICC as a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority. The sanctions include freezing U.S. bank assets and restricting access to the U.S. financial system. This move is part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to dismantle the court, which Rubio claims poses a threat to U.S. sovereignty. The administration has targeted the court following investigations into alleged war crimes by U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The ICC condemned the measures as a flagrant attack on the independence of an impartial judicial institution. The court stated that threatening judicial actors for applying the law puts the international legal order at risk. The Assembly of States Parties, representing 125 countries, echoed this sentiment, calling the sanctions an escalation that could undermine ongoing investigations and global efforts to ensure accountability for the worst crimes against humanity.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the sanctions on Akane, a Japanese national, very unfortunate. While the Japanese government expressed its consistent support for the ICC and the rule of law, it stated it would continue communication with the United States. Some Japanese lawmakers have called for stronger condemnation and the immediate withdrawal of the sanctions. Meanwhile, the European Union showed firm support for the court. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa stated that judges and officials must be able to act independently and without external pressure.

Reports indicate that the U.S. pressure has had some effect on the court's membership. Chad and Venezuela have announced their intentions to withdraw from the ICC, with the U.S. welcoming these decisions. Human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, have filed a lawsuit in a New York court to challenge the sanctions, arguing that they block victims of war crimes from pursuing justice.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
These outlets framed the event as a dangerous attack on international law and the independence of the judiciary.
Centre
These outlets focused on the diplomatic dilemma for Japan and the factual details of the sanctions and the U.S. justification.
Centre-right
This outlet emphasized the U.S. perspective that the court is overstepping its mandate by targeting non member states.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.