TOKYO: International Criminal Court President Tomoko Akane of Japan warned on Friday against “the demise of international rule of law” after the United States targeted her with sanctions.

Washington sanctioned Akane and trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye of Senegal this week as part of the Trump administration’s campaign against what it calls a “corrupt and fatally politicised” body.

“The sanction against me this time was something I had anticipated to an extent, so I’m not surprised,” Akane said in a statement released on X by her publisher Bungei Shunju.

“The important thing is not to let this be the beginning of the demise of international rule of law.”

The measures bar Akane and Seye from entering the United States and from carrying out transactions in the US financial system.

Akane’s statement, her first public comments since the sanctions, comes after the ICC called the US measures a “flagrant attack” on the court’s independence.

The United Nations rights chief Volker Turk and top EU officials threw their support behind Akane and her institution.

Washington’s latest move follows sanctions it imposed on several ICC officials, seen as largely in response to the court’s investigations involving Israel, a US ally.

Japan has also objected to the sanctions on Akane, with the foreign ministry saying it “consistently supported the ICC... in its efforts to prosecute and punish the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and to uphold the rule of law”.

Japan is the biggest funder of the ICC and a close US ally.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026