U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that the United States would impose sanctions on senior officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for their investigations into U.S. persons. 

Pompeo said the United States would designate ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Phakiso Mochochoko, the head of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division of ICC, as "the ICC continues to target Americans." 

"Individuals and entities that continue to materially support those individuals risk exposure to sanctions as well," he said, adding that the U.S. Department of State had restricted visas for individuals involved in the ICC efforts to investigate U.S. personnel. 

Pompeo said that Washington has not ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC and "will not tolerate its illegitimate attempts to subject Americans to its jurisdiction." 

The ICC in March authorized an investigation into possible war crimes in Afghanistan, including those that may have been committed by U.S. military and the CIA, which could lead to the indictment of U.S. military and intelligence personnel. 

U.S. President Donald Trump in June authorized economic sanctions against ICC officials engaged in an investigation into U.S. personnel, which drew opposition from the international community and some of U.S. allies. 

The ICC was established when the Rome Statute took effect in 2002. It prosecutes crimes of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. 

Attack on the rule of law 

Reacting to the decision, the ICC on Wednesday said moves by the U.S. government to place sanctions on its prosecutor were an attack on international justice and the rule of law. 

The sanctions are "unprecedented and constitute serious attacks against the Court, the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice, and the rule of law more generally," the world's permanent war crimes court said in a statement. 

Call for int'l rejection of U.S. sanctions on ICC officials

The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on Wednesday called on the international community to reject U.S. sanctions imposed on officials of the ICC. 

Hanan Ashrawi, a veteran member of the PLO Executive Committee, said in an emailed press statement that international justice and legitimacy are under "a U.S. retaliatory attack." 

"President Donald Trump's administration is trying to keep the international system under its control by using the logic of power and arrogance and crush the principle of accountability and anything legal or humanitarian," she said.

Ashrawi said that the world is obligated now and more than ever "to protect its laws, principles, human values, and the foundations based on justice." 

She stressed "punishing, harassing or persecuting officials of the International Criminal Court for carrying out their duties to investigate war crimes and other grave violations are unlawful and unacceptable." 

(With input from Xinhua, Reuters. Cover photo via Reuters)