Trump slams Nobel peace prize, sanctions ICC

The administration of US President Donald Trump has hit the International Criminal Court with sanctions on financial transactions, citing the possibility that the court could prosecute US citizens. Trump himself criticized the awarding of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to a former judge on the court.

The administration unveiled the restrictions on Friday, the same day the Norway-based Nobel Committee honored Navi Pillay, a judge for the International Court of Justice. She received the award for her efforts to promote peace and international law.

Pillay is from South Africa and has also served as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and as a judge at the ICC. She also led a UN commission that reported Israel was committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Trump referred to the peace prize winner at a rally in the state of New York on Friday. He said he never heard of the person, adding "Nobody did. It's a mystery person."

He said that he had ended eight wars. He said, "The United States of America, represented by me as your president, should have received the Nobel Peace Prize." He said, "We will not forget Norway," which he said "did not give this prize with the greatest record in history."

The administration in August imposed sanctions on the ICC's chief, Akane Tomoko. The latest restrictions will ban all ICC financial transactions in or through the US, in principle. Transactions to continue operations, including payment of contributions from member nations and payment of salaries to employees, will be allowed for 180 days, hinting at a possible diplomatic solution.

In response to the latest sanctions, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a social media post that he commended Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for "taking this critical decision to sanction the ICC." He said, "The ICC is not a court" and it is "a political body that poses a mortal threat to law abiding democracies worldwide and to the very idea of national sovereignty."

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands and Denmark issued a joint statement, saying they regret and strongly disagree with the announcement of the sanctions.

A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also condemned the sanctions and called for support for the ICC.

Sanctions on the ICC, which has tried war crimes and crimes against humanity, have fueled controversy in the international community.