Secretary of State Marco Rubio sanctioned International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane and Senior Trial Lawyer Abdoulaye Seye on Tuesday, the first time the campaign to dismantle the court has reached its sitting president.
Akane, a Japanese national, is the same judge who signed off on the 2023 warrant for Vladimir Putin’s arrest over the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. She landed on Russia’s own wanted list as a result. Seye, a Senegalese national in line for a future judgeship at the court, was part of the prosecution team that pursued Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ICC arrest warrant, which accused him of war crimes including starvation as a method of warfare in Gaza.
The sanctions, issued under Executive Order 14203, freeze any US assets the two hold and bar American citizens and institutions from transacting with them; the Treasury Department separately authorized a wind-down window for existing transactions through September 17.
Rubio said that Akane and Seye had engaged in ICC efforts to pursue officials whose governments never accepted the court’s jurisdiction, calling the sanctions part of an “unwavering mission to protect Americans from this sham of a court.”
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Read: Trump Wants Immunity for War Crimes
The move is largely seen as a hedge against potential repercussions of the actions of US President Donald Trump and his administration. Legal experts and human rights groups have argued the deadly US strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, and the January capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, could expose US officials to ICC jurisdiction since Venezuela is a Rome Statute member; some have raised similar concerns about this year’s US strikes in Iran.
The State Department has itself acknowledged the court’s Afghanistan probe once touched on the conduct of American military and intelligence personnel and remains formally open.
One US official said the administration fears that by 2029 the ICC will “turn its attention to the president” and other senior officials. And in a separate post, Rubio did say that “Americans will never be transported beyond seas to be tried for pretend offenses.”
Read: Why The White House Wants To Dismantle The ICC
Just last year, Philippine authorities arrested former President Rodrigo Duterte and surrendered him to the ICC on crimes against humanity charges tied to his drug-war killings, even though the Philippines had withdrawn from the court six years earlier. Judges confirmed the charges in April 2026, and he’s set to become the first Asian former head of state to stand trial at the ICC when proceedings open November 30.
The ICC rejected the sanctions as an attack on judicial independence, saying the measures “undermine the rule of law” and warning that pressuring judges over their rulings threatens the broader legal order. It said it “remains undeterred and stands firmly behind its personnel and behind victims of unimaginable atrocities.”
Japan’s Foreign Ministry Press Secretary Kitamura Toshihiro said Wednesday that Japan has consistently supported the ICC’s work upholding the rule of law, calling the sanctions “very unfortunate.” Japan, the ICC’s biggest funder, is also a close US ally.
The US has already sanctioned more than a dozen ICC judges and prosecutors, cutting them off from much of the international banking system, and the court’s own documents later acknowledged that earlier rounds of sanctions had disrupted its operations and infrastructure and put staff at greater risk.
Three ICC judges sued President Donald Trump in June over the sanctions regime, and four human rights groups filed a separate New York lawsuit last week arguing the measures block war-crimes victims from pursuing justice.
Rubio has also pushed allied governments to cut ties with the court entirely, and Chad, Venezuela, and other member states have moved to exit the ICC since the campaign began
