The US Trump administration has sanctioned Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), over her investigation into whether US forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would freeze US assets belonging to Fatou Bensouda as part of President Donald Trump’s pushback against the Hague-based tribunal. The US had already slapped a travel ban on the 59-year-old Gambian lawyer and other ICC officials over the probe. One of Bensouda’s top aides, the court’s head of jurisdiction, Phakiso Mochochoko, would also be subject to an asset freeze, Pompeo said, warning that individuals and entities that continue to materially support the pair could be sanctioned as well. Officials in The Hague decided in March to open an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2014, including those allegedly committed by US forces and the CIA. The ICC, to which the United States has never been a party, was founded in 2002 to investigate and prosecute individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
US puts ICC prosecutor on blacklist for criminals & terrorists | DW News
