IBA condemns the imposition of additional US sanctions against International Criminal Court judges and officials
The International Bar Association (IBA) condemns the imposition of additional sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC or ‘the Court’) judges and officials by the United States administration as an attack against the global rule of law and the independence of judges, and calls on all ICC States Parties to take actions to protect the Court.
IBA President Jaime Carey affirmed: ‘Judges and prosecutors must be able to carry out their work without fear of retribution. The IBA continues to stand for the independence of judges and lawyers, a fundamental principle of the rule of law.’
On 20 August 2025, the US imposed sanctions against two ICC judges, Judge Nicolas Guillou and Judge Kimberly Prost, and against Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan and Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang. As a result of the sanctions, the designated persons will be banned from entering the US and their US assets will be blocked.
IBA Executive Director Dr Mark Ellis commented: ‘The International Criminal Court was created to ensure that victims of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression can seek justice. With these sanctions, the US administration continues to shamefully obstruct justice for these victims. Sanctioning eminent lawyers and judges for doing their jobs is a perversion of the rule of law and an affront to the integrity of the international legal order. The Trump administration is using bullying tactics to intimidate and deter an international court from performing its legitimate functions, and in doing so aligns itself with the worst of oppressive regimes.’
Judge Guillou was among the judges who approved the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024. Judge Prost was among the judges who authorised the opening of an ICC investigation in the situation in Afghanistan in March 2020. The US has previously sanctioned four other judges who took part in those decisions in June 2025. These sanctions were condemned by the IBA. Deputy Prosecutor Khan and Deputy Prosecutor Niang are currently the most senior officials in the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor, and were sanctioned in this most recent action from the US for ‘continuing to support illegitimate ICC actions against Israel’, according to the US State Department.
All sanctions have been deployed pursuant to Executive Order 14203 issued by US President Donald Trump on 6 February 2025, imposing sanctions on the ICC Prosecutor, Karim Khan. The IBA denounced US sanctions against the ICC and called on all states to respect the judicial independence of the Court.
ENDS
Contact: IBApressoffice@int-bar.org
Notes to the reader
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. As a court of last resort, it seeks to complement, not replace, national courts. Governed by an international treaty called the Rome Statute.
- The Rome Statute is the treaty that established the ICC. It Statute sets out the Court's jurisdiction over genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and – as of an amendment in 2010 – the crime of aggression.
- The International Bar Association (IBA), the global voice of the legal profession, is the foremost organisation for international legal practitioners, bar associations and law societies. Established in 1947, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, it was born out of the conviction that an organisation made up of the world's bar associations could contribute to global stability and peace through the administration of justice.
- Find the IBA on social media here:
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