PM Takaichi says Japan will 'protect' ICC from US push to dismantle

By Alastair Gale

 

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan would defend the International Criminal Court as it comes under increasing pressure from the US, most recently through the sanctioning of its Japanese president.

 

“As the largest financial contributor to the ICC, we must protect this important institution,” Takaichi said late Tuesday in remarks related to the US move last week to sanction ICC President Tomoko Akane.

 

After initially expressing “regret” over the US action, Takaichi gave a more forthright response on Tuesday, saying she shared a “sense of crisis” with Akane over the decision.

 

“We repeatedly approached the US at various levels, right up until the last possible moment, urging it not to designate President Akane for sanctions,” Takaichi said at a press conference.

 

 

The sanctioning of Akane and a senior trial lawyer by the US marks the latest escalation of attacks on the court by Washington, which says the ICC has unfairly targeted the US and Israel.

 

The court is “a corrupt and fatally politicized supranational court that has maliciously abused its authority and exceeded its mandate,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement last week. He threatened more measures to “systematically dismantle the ICC until it is incapable of threatening American sovereignty.”

 

Tension between Japan and the US over the ICC represents a rare public point of friction between two close allies. Takaichi said Japan would continue to provide support to Akane, who is now barred from the US financial system and travel to the US. Takaichi added that Tokyo would consider making further representations to the US as appropriate.

 

The prime minister’s stronger remarks on Tuesday follow criticism from politicians including members of her own ruling party. A multiparty group of lawmakers including former Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and ex-Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, called on the premier to lodge a clearer protest in a statement released on Monday.

 

President Donald Trump and his allies have long accused the ICC of interfering in US affairs. During his first term, he slapped sanctions on an ICC prosecutor and one of her aides for investigating accusations of American war crimes in Afghanistan. 

 

The court issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024 over allegations of war crimes in Gaza. The Israeli government has denied the accusations, and the Biden administration rejected the court’s authority.

 

Neither the US nor Israel is a party to the court, which was established in 2002 in the Hague, Netherlands, to prosecute war crimes, genocide and other atrocities. It has issued 60 arrest warrants, including for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and has detained 21 people.