Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s administration wants the International Criminal Court to amend its founding document to ensure it does not investigate the Republican president and his top officials, a Trump administration official said.
If the court does not act on this U.S. demand and two others – dropping investigations of Israeli leaders over the Gaza war and formally ending an earlier probe of U.S. troops over their actions in Afghanistan – Washington may penalize more ICC officials and could sanction the court itself, the official said. Sanctioning the court would significantly escalate the U.S. campaign against the ICC, which has long been criticized by U.S. officials including both Republicans and Democrats, who say the court infringes on U.S. sovereignty.
The Trump administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Washington has communicated its demands to ICC members, some of whom are U.S. allies, and has also made them known to the court.
The United States is not a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC in 2002 as a court of last resort, with the power to prosecute heads of state. The demand and the threat to resume the U.S. sanctions campaign towards the court have not been previously reported, according to a Reuters report. The U.S. earlier this year slapped sanctions on nine ICC officials, including judges and prosecutors. But it has stopped short of imposing sanctions on the court as an entity, which would severely disrupt the tribunal’s work.
