President Donald Trump on Thursday announced an executive order allowing U.S. sanctions against International Criminal Court employees implicated in an inquiry into whether American forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan, Reuters reported.
A senior Trump executive official, without giving details, announced the investigation is “being pushed forward by an organization of questionable integrity” – pointing to the Hague-based ICC – and attacked Russia of having a role.
The order allows Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in discussion with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to bar assets in the United States of ICC employees involved in the probe, according to a letter sent by Trump to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi accompanying the order.
It also authorizes Pompeo to block entry into the United States of these individuals.
ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to investigate possible crimes committed between 2003 and 2014 including alleged mass killings of civilians by the Taliban, as well as the alleged torture of prisoners by Afghan authorities and, to a lesser extent, by U.S. forces and the CIA.
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