ICC says US sanctions on top court members 'undermine rule of law'

US sanctions on top members of the International Criminal Court "undermine the rule of law", the court said in a statement on Tuesday after Washington imposed measures on its president.

"When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk," the court said in a statement sent to reporters.

Earlier Tuesday, the US imposed sanctions against ICC President Tomoko Akane of Japan as part of its campaign against the body it accuses of being "politicised".

Washington also slapped sanctions on ICC senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal in the Trump administration's latest salvo against the court.

"Measures targeting judges, prosecutors and staff who work towards the fulfilment of the mandate that was conferred to the ICC by States undermine the rule of law," the ICC retorted.

The court, based in The Hague, said it remained "undeterred" and "stands firmly behind its personnel and behind victims of unimaginable atrocities".

The US, which is not a party to the international treaty that established the ICC, has already imposed sanctions against several of the court's officials.

The measures bar them from entering the US and from transactions in the US financial system.

It is largely a response to ICC investigations targeting Israel, a US ally. In 2024, the court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)