The United States (US) has imposed sanctions on the president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and one of its senior trial lawyers, escalating the Trump administration’s campaign against The Hague-based tribunal which has former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in its custody.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was imposing sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts to investigate, arrest, detain, and prosecute officials whose governments had not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” Rubio said.

The sanctions freeze any US assets Akane and Seye may have and essentially cut them off from the US financial system.

The ICC condemned the sanctions, saying the measures undermine the rule of law and that threatening judicial officials for applying the law puts the international legal order at risk.

Trump vs tribunal

The latest sanctions mark another escalation of US President Donald Trump’s longstanding opposition to the ICC.

Washington is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court, and the Trump administration has repeatedly challenged the ICC’s authority to prosecute nationals of countries that had not consented to its jurisdiction.

The ICC, however, maintains that it may exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory of a state party even when the accused is a national of a non-member state.

The Trump administration has sanctioned ICC prosecutors and judges over cases involving the United States and Israel.

These include the ICC’s investigation into alleged crimes involving US personnel in Afghanistan and its issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes in Gaza.

Seye is a senior trial lawyer on the prosecution team that issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.

Rubio has used unusually strong language against the tribunal, saying in July that there were “lunatics and crazies involved in the ICC” who were discussing the possibility of going after US political and military officials.

No US official would be put on trial by the court, he stressed.

Trump’s opposition to the ICC dates back to his first administration. Speaking before the United Nations in 2018, Trump said that as far as the United States was concerned, the ICC had “no jurisdiction, no legitimacy, and no authority.”

Philippine connection

The escalating confrontation between Washington and the ICC has particular significance for the Philippines as the court proceeds with the case against Duterte over alleged crimes against humanity committed during his administration.

Duterte has been in ICC custody in The Hague since 11 March 2025 after Philippine authorities arrested him pursuant to an ICC warrant and surrendered him to the court.

The Philippines withdrawal from the Rome Statute took effect on 17 March 2019, but the ICC has ruled that it retains jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed while the country was still a state party.

The ICC confirmed the charges against Duterte in April 2026 and committed his case to trial in November.