Spain's Sanchez asks EU to block US sanctions on ICC
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Wed, 05/06/2026 - 11:16
The leader urges the EU to protect independence of the international court and the UN and their 'actions to end' Gaza genocide
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (L) looks at European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen prior to a roundtable as part of the EU Western Balkans summit in Brussels on 17 December 2025 (Nicolas Tucat/AFP)
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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called on the European Commission to activate the EU's Blocking Statute to shield the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the United Nations from US sanctions.
"Spain does not look the other way," Sanchez wrote on X. "The EU cannot stand idly by in the face of this persecution," he added, calling on Brussels to protect the independence of both institutions and their "actions to end the genocide in Gaza".
"Sanctioning those who defend international justice puts the entire human rights system at risk."
Since February last year, the administration of US President Donald Trump has imposed financial and visa sanctions on 11 ICC officials and the UN special rapporteur on Palestine in connection with the ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and its ongoing Afghanistan investigation.
The sanctions have upended the daily lives of the targeted individuals, banned them from travel to the US, and effectively cut them off from much of the global financial system, including within Europe.
The EU Blocking Statute is a regulation that aims to protect EU companies and individuals from the effects of extraterritorial sanctions imposed by third countries, essentially preventing them from complying with foreign laws that could harm their business operations within the EU, even if those laws target activities outside the EU jurisdiction.
It primarily focuses on shielding EU operators from certain US sanctions considered to have extraterritorial reach, like those against Cuba and Iran.
If activated, the Blocking Statute would assure EU-based service providers that their transactions with the ICC are protected.
The Commission has so far not triggered the mechanism, offering no public explanation for the delay, despite the European Parliament having passed resolutions calling for its activation in July and September.
The Dutch parliament last year passed a motion asking the Netherlands, as the ICC's host, to take measures to protect the court at national and EU levels, including via the Blocking Statute, to minimise the sanctions' impact.
'On the side of impunity'
The Trump administration first imposed financial and visa sanctions on the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, in February 2025. Then, in August, it sanctioned two deputy prosecutors, Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang, and six judges. Two more judges were sanctioned in December.
The executive orders linked the sanctions to efforts by these individuals to prosecute Americans and nationals of US-allied countries. Trump’s government has also threatened sanctions against the court itself – described by some as a doomsday scenario.
Life as an ICC judge sanctioned by Trump
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In July, the US extended the sanctions to Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine, over her cooperation with the ICC.
Middle East Eye revealed in December that the Trump administration had pressured the ICC to drop its investigations into alleged war crimes in Palestine and Afghanistan as a condition for lifting the sanctions. It also called on member states to amend the Rome Statute to prohibit prosecutions of citizens of non-signatory states – a move that would have effectively granted immunity to American and Israeli nationals.
The case for invoking the Blocking Statute has been made repeatedly by legal experts and rights groups.
In an interview with MEE last year, UN special rRapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Meg Satterthwaite, said activating the statute would be "a very effective and appropriate next step", warning that by issuing the sanctions, the US was "placing itself on the side of impunity".
Sanctioned judges have told MEE that they expect the EU to take action to shield them from the extraterritorial impact of sanctions, but that the bloc has yet to take concrete measures to protect them.
One of the impacted officials is Peruvian judge Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza, who was sanctioned in June for her role in authorising an investigation into crimes committed in Afghanistan since 2003.
She told MEE in an interview in December that the sanctions have barred her from using her credit card or any banking system that uses US dollars. She has also been unable to use Western Union to send money to her home country or to use applications like Uber.
Her daughter has been denied a visa to the US without an explanation, preventing her from travelling there for work as an international lawyer.
"But none of these [measures] have deterred us as judges, because those sanctions are designed to attack our independence as judges, and we are not giving up our independence," Carranza said.
"As judges, we are more united than ever, and we are carrying out our daily functions with the best of our abilities."
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