(C) Common Dreams
This story was originally published by Common Dreams and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Trump’s Sanctions on International Court May Do Little Beyond Alienating Allies [1]
['Pranshu Verma']
Date: 2020-10-18
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came to the State Department briefing room ready to punish.
On Sept. 2, he took to the lectern and called the International Criminal Court — which investigates war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — a “thoroughly broken and corrupted institution.” Then he announced sanctions on the tribunal’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, and a colleague, trying to stop their inquiry into potential war crimes by American forces in Afghanistan.
His measure enraged European allies, human rights activists and even some retired American generals. Many were angry that the Trump administration aimed economic penalties meant for warlords, dictators and authoritarian governments at a human rights lawyer.
“It definitely is quite unprecedented,” Ms. Bensouda said in an interview. “These are the kind of sanctions that we normally reserve to be used as a mechanism to target narcotic traffickers, notorious terrorists and the like. But not professional lawyers, not prosecutors, not investigators, not judges or others who are working tirelessly to prevent atrocity crimes.”
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/18/world/europe/trump-sanctions-international-criminal-court.html
Published and (C) by Common Dreams
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 3.0..
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/commondreams/
