US imposes sanctions on International Criminal Court: AFP

• This comes hours after the Nobel prize was awarded to a former ICC judge. 

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court on Friday, hours after one of the court's former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize, AFP said.

The Nobel went to South African jurist Navi Pillay, who served on the ICC's Appeals Chamber from 2003 to 2008. The prize committee said it wanted to remind the world that judges and institutions of international law are under political attack.

Washington had previously sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors, including deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang, over the court's work on ‘Israel’ and on US conduct in Afghanistan.

In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said "President Trump will never allow the International Criminal Court to prosecute Americans." He said the US had delayed the sanctions in the hope that the ICC and the states party to its founding Rome Statute would address American concerns, but that they had failed to do so. His warning to the court was blunt: "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC."

Pillay's award drew sharp criticism from ‘Israel’. Its foreign ministry said the prize legitimized "anti-Israel hatred," and it compared the Nobel committee's decision to Nazi propaganda. 

The ICC has previously issued arrest warrants for ‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defense minister Yoav Gallant over the Gaza assault.

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