The sweeping sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its staff — which namely targeted the body's chief prosecutor Karim Khan — have been increasingly impacting the tribunal's work, ICC claims.
According to staffers, the sanctions have made it extremely difficult for the tribunal to conduct basic tasks, let alone seek justice for victims of war crimes.
The court was sanctioned by the Trump administration in February, as a reaction to the ICC arrest warrants issued in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
In his executive order, Trump singled out Khan as a sanctioned individual, banning him from entry to the US, alongside other non-US staffers.
According to ICC staffers, Kahn has subsequently lost access to his Microsoft email address, and his bank accounts in his home country of the United Kingdom have been blocked.
Trump's sanctions also threaten any person, institution or company with fines and prison time if they provide Khan with “financial, material, or technological support", while American staffers have been warned they could be arrested if they return home to visit family.
Investigations on pause amid Khan's own scandal
The sanctions are hampering work on a broad array of investigations, not just the one into Israel's leaders.
The ICC, for example, had been investigating atrocities in Sudan and had issued arrest warrants for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges that include genocide.
However, the probe has ground to a halt ever since the case's prosecutor Eric Iverson filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, in a bid to seek protection from the sanctions.
Iverson's lawyer Allison Miller said that her client "cannot do, what I would describe as, basic lawyer functions.”
Three lawsuits are now pending from US court staff and consultants against the Trump administration, arguing that the sanctions infringe on their freedom of expression.
The renewed assault from the Trump administration comes as the court was already facing a scandal involving allegations of sexual abuse against Khan.
Last year, just weeks before Khan announced he was requesting arrest warrants for the Israeli officials, two court staff reported the British barrister had coerced a junior member of ICC staff into nonconsensual sexual acts.
A recent report by the Wall Street Journal revealed an alleged pattern of inappropriate touching, harassment and forced intercourse perpetrated by Khan against his accuser.
The assistant, a lawyer from Malaysia in her 30s, alleged Khan further forced her into sexual intercourse against her will while on missions in New York, Colombia, Congo, Chad and Paris, as well as his residence at the Hague, according to her testimony reviewed by the US-based outlet.
Khan's lawyers have said all allegations he committed sexual violence or misconduct are "categorically untrue".
Following the revelations, Khan has also been accused of retaliating against staff who supported the woman and of demoting several people he felt were critical of him.
UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services report on Khan's alleged misconduct is expected in the coming months, according to reports.
