ICC Deputy Says US Sanctions Trigger Banking Problems, Cases Continue

The international criminal court is under pressure from Washington, but its deputy prosecutor said investigations are not slowing down.

Nazhat Shameem Khan, who shares leadership of the prosecutor's office, said some staff members are running into banking problems. The sanctions were announced on 9 October by US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who called the institution a rogue court and said, "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC." The measures take effect six months after the announcement. Khan said banks are "over-complying" while the scope of the rules remains unclear.

"These are sanctions imposed on the institutions and, in principle, our individual members should not be impacted directly," Khan said. "But again, what I am hearing from members of our staff is that some of them are experiencing difficulties in banking."

Khan said work on the Gaza situation and other files has advanced since warrants were issued in November 2024 for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Galant. No further Gaza charges have been announced since late 2024. The court ruled earlier this year that charges and warrant applications must remain secret until judges approve release. "Even if we reach a stage of the investigations where it might be imminent, we may not discuss it publicly," she said. "And so while there might be an appearance that nothing is happening, I can assure you that there's significant progress in that particular situation as well as others."

Khan said the court is moving its software from Microsoft to European alternatives and is negotiating with service providers over banking and health insurance. "All the investigations across all situations continue. We haven't made any decision based on the sanctions to reduce our capability or reduce our output," she said. She added that she cannot predict the full effect once the measures are in place.

Khan was one of 13 court staff the US first targeted in February 2025. She said the restrictions have costs. "Life without a credit card is inconvenient. It's amazing how many things now we cannot do around the world, particularly in relation to travel, without a credit card," she said. She said visits to refugee camps and sites of mass atrocities put that in perspective. "We see the faces of our victims for whom sanctions and credit cards are completely irrelevant. They just want justice."

American measures are not the only disruption. Formal investigations began in late November 2024 into sexual harassment allegations against former chief prosecutor Karim Khan, a British jurist who is no relation to the deputy prosecutor. He denied the charges and was removed in July this year after a vote by member states.

Rubin claimed without evidence this month that "globalist 'experts' an ocean away" wanted the ICC to prosecute US citizens. Khan said she was unsure what he meant. "We certainly haven't brought any Americans before the court," she said. She said that if he meant Afghanistan, the work there focuses on offences committed against women, girls and other vulnerable groups by the Taliban and the Islamic State Khorasan. This month the court's pretrial chamber unsealed four arrest warrants against Taliban members on charges of gender persecution.

The court's registrar is talking with the European Union about blocking the sanctions or finding other protections. On Thursday the European parliament gave its Sakharov prize for freedom of thought to the court and its officials. Khan called the backing "a very important message that the staff at the court need to hear".