US rights groups sue Trump over ICC sanctions

US President Donald Trump before signing an executive order calling for childhood vaccine shots to be spaced out into separate visits, at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 10, 2026. [AFP]

Rights groups on Tuesday sued US President Donald Trump over his sanctions targeting the International Criminal Court, saying the measures block victims of war crimes from pursuing justice.

The Trump administration, which rejects the ICC's authority, has imposed travel bans and asset freezes on several judges and prosecutors, primarily over their investigations into key US ally Israel.

In a New York court filing, four groups including Human Rights Watch said the sanctions should be struck down as they violate laws including First Amendment free speech protections.

"This is an unlawful abuse of power constituting a frontal attack on the rule of law, the independence of judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, basic precepts undergirding the international legal order, and the principle of equal access to justice," the lawsuit states.

The 101-page complaint says the restrictions "cause grave damage to the ability to bring to justice the perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity."

The US sanctions, issued under an executive order Trump signed in February 2025, have targeted eight judges, three prosecutors, a UN expert and three human rights organizations.

The United Nations and the European Union previously urged Trump to reverse penalties against ICC officials.

Many of the measures were directly linked to an arrest warrant that The Hague-based court issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza.

Washington has also criticized ICC probes into alleged abuses during the US-led war in Afghanistan.

Tuesday's complaint, filed by HRW, American Friends Service Committee, Center for Constitutional Rights and Open Society Institute, says the sanctions have caused "profound and irreparable harm."

It states that the four groups have been forced to stop fully engaging with the ICC due to fears of civil or criminal penalties, and of being designated for sanctions themselves.

Alongside Trump, the lawsuit names Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Bradley Smith, director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Established in 2002, the ICC prosecutes individuals accused of the gravest atrocities and acts as a last resort when countries do not have adequate legal systems to ensure accountability.

US reservations about the court predate Trump. The US, like Israel, has not ratified the international treaty that established the ICC, which is backed by nearly all Western democracies.

Russia is also not a member. Its President Vladimir Putin has been the subject of an ICC arrest warrant since March 2023.

Washington vowed last month to accelerate its campaign against the ICC beyond the existing sanctions -- accusing the court of posing "an intolerable threat to US sovereignty."

A State Department official told AFP the effort would look to pressure other nations to withdraw from the court and cut off any financial support to the court.

In June, three ICC judges sanctioned by the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against the president and other senior US officials, arguing that the measures imposed on them were unlawful.

In a complaint filed in New York, Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, Uganda's Solomy Balungi Bossa and Benin's Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini-Gansou said the sanctions were intended to "exert extrajudicial pressure."