The United States government designated two more officials of the International Criminal Court for sanctions on 18 August 2026: Tomoko Akane of Japan, who presides over the court, and Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal, a senior trial lawyer. Both were designated under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in February 2025.
The designation reaches the top of the court’s judicial structure. The presidency is the office that represents the institution and oversees its judicial administration, while trial lawyers work on the prosecution side of cases argued before the court’s judges in The Hague.
An order already in use
The February 2025 executive order has been applied before. Earlier designations under it covered ICC prosecutors and judges, a United Nations human rights expert, and three Palestinian human rights organisations. The August action extends an existing list rather than opening a new one.
A challenge already before a US court
A week earlier, on 11 August 2026, four non-governmental organisations filed a lawsuit in US federal court challenging those sanctions, including the measures imposed on ICC prosecutors and judges, on the UN expert, and on the three Palestinian groups. The case was filed before the latest two names were added.
Why the court matters here
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal that hears cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and steps in where national courts are unable or unwilling to prosecute. Situations currently open before it include Afghanistan, Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine.
What distinguishes these measures from most sanctions programmes is their target: individuals holding judicial and prosecutorial posts inside an international institution, rather than states, armed groups or commercial entities. For an audience following the court from outside the United States, the practical question raised is how an institution whose judges and prosecutors are themselves listed continues to work through the situations on its docket.
This report was produced by the HuMedia newsroom.
