Biden Administration to Strike Down US Sanctions on ICC Officials

By Staff, Agencies

The administration of US President Joe Biden is planning to lift the sanctions on members of the International Criminal Court [ICC], Foreign Policy reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, which cites two sources with knowledge on the matter, the move could materialize either this or the coming week.

If implemented, it would reverse the restrictions imposed by the administration of former President Donald Trump on chief ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and top deputy Phakiso Mochochoko.

Under Trump's executive order in mid-2020, economic sanctions could have been imposed on any ICC officials involved in investigating "allied personnel" in the absence of a nod from the respective US ally.

A probe into war crimes on ‘Israeli’-occupied Palestinian territories was another key point of contention between the ICC and Washington, with either the Zionist entity or the US ratifying the Rome Statute, the court's founding charter.

The Biden administration similarly does not recognize the ICC jurisdiction in either case.