US Sanctions on ICC Officials Spark Global Condemnation
AI-generated context summary requested by a Free News Reader user. Sourced via Gemini from publicly available information — no paywalled content was accessed.
You hit a paywall. Here’s the context on this topic based on publicly available information. We did not access any paywalled content. View original article.
US Sanctions on ICC Officials Spark Global Condemnation
- The Trump administration imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) officials, including Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and senior official Phakiso Mochochoko, in September 2020.
- These sanctions, which included asset freezes and travel bans, were enacted via Executive Order 13928 on June 11, 2020, and later revoked by the Biden administration on April 2, 2021.
Full Summary — powered by AI
In June 2020, the Trump administration issued Executive Order 13928, declaring a national emergency and authorizing sanctions against International Criminal Court (ICC) officials. This move was a response to the ICC’s investigation into alleged war crimes by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan and by Israeli officials. The U.S. is not a member of the ICC, and neither is Israel, leading the U.S. to assert that the court lacks jurisdiction over their personnel.
On September 2, 2020, the U.S. government officially imposed sanctions on ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of Gambia and senior ICC official Phakiso Mochochoko of Lesotho. These sanctions resulted in asset freezes and travel restrictions. The actions drew widespread criticism from numerous countries, including Germany, France, Canada, and the United Kingdom, as well as human rights organizations and the United Nations, who viewed them as an attack on international law and the court’s independence.
The Biden administration later revoked Executive Order 13928 on April 2, 2021, and lifted the sanctions, aiming to reset the U.S. relationship with the ICC. However, the issue of U.S. sanctions against ICC officials has resurfaced. In February 2025, a new executive order was issued by the Trump administration, again imposing sanctions on ICC officials involved in investigating U.S. or Israeli nationals. These recent sanctions, which include targeting the ICC’s president, Tomoko Akane, and other judges and prosecutors, have been condemned by the ICC as a “flagrant attack” on its independence.
Separately, “Wero” refers to a new European digital wallet and instant account-to-account payment service. Developed by the European Payments Initiative (EPI), Wero launched in Germany in July 2024, with subsequent rollouts in France and Belgium. It is currently available in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Wero aims to be a unified European alternative to international payment services like PayPal, Visa, and Mastercard, promoting “payments sovereignty” for Europe. The service initially focused on person-to-person transfers and expanded to e-commerce payments in November 2025, with in-store payments starting in September 2026.