United States imposes sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane

The US Treasury Department sanctioned Tomoko Akane, the sitting president of the International Criminal Court, on Tuesday. Akane, a Japanese judge who leads the court established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity, now faces asset freezes and financial restrictions under US law. A campaign that keeps getting louder The sanctions against Akane didn’t arrive in a vacuum. They stem from an executive order issued in February 2025 that authorized asset freezes and visa bans targeting ICC officials involved in cases touching US citizens or allies. Earlier rounds of sanctions in 2025 had already hit Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan and several other judges connected to investigations involving American personnel and allies, including Israel. Akane was not among those initially designated, making this week’s move a deliberate expansion of the target list. In July 2026, Akane had been actively working to shore up diplomatic support, particularly from her home country of Japan, to push back against US pressure. Washington had been calling on ICC member states to withdraw from the court entirely, and Akane was trying to rally a coalition to resist those calls. W...