ICC prosecutor slams 'wholly unacceptable' US sanctions

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The outgoing prosecutor of the International Criminal Court hit out Monday at sanctions slapped on her by the Trump Administration in her final speech to an annual gathering of the court's member states before she leaves office next year. Fatou Bensouda noted at the start of her speech to the Assembly of States Parties that the court and her prosecution office were “subjected to unprecedented and wholly unacceptable threats, attacks and sanctions this past year.” In September, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced a freeze on assets held in the U.S. or subject to U.S. law by Bensouda and the court’s head of jurisdiction, Phakiso Mochochoko. Human Rights Watch has called on Biden to scrap the sanctions and urged the court's 123 member states at the meeting that started Monday to “seize the opportunity of an incoming U.S. administration to signal expectations that the U.S. will engage with the court in a manner that respects the court’s Rome Statute, the global rule of law, and victims’ access to justice.” Part of the agenda for this week’s meeting of the court’s member states is to choose a successor for Bensouda, who is close to completing her nine-year term in office. In her speech, Bensouda also urged the court's member states to adequately fund prosecutions as her office comes under increasing pressure to probe alleged atrocities around the globe.