THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Judges and prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are trying to live and work under the same U.S. financial and travel restrictions brought against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Osama bin Laden.
Nine staff members, including six judges and the ICC's chief prosecutor, have been sanctioned by U.S. President Donald Trump for pursuing investigations into officials from the U.S. and Israel, which aren't among The Hague court's 125 member states.
Typically reserved for autocrats, crime bosses and the like, the sanctions can be devastating. They prevent the ICC officials and their families from entering the United States, block their access to even basic financial services and extend to the minutiae of their everyday lives.
The court's top prosecutor, British national Karim Khan, had his bank accounts closed and his U.S. visa revoked, and Microsoft even canceled his ICC email address. Canadian judge Kimberly Prost, who was named in the latest round of sanctions in August, immediately lost access to her credit cards, and Amazon's Alexa stopped responding to her.
“Your whole world is restricted,” Prost told The Associated Press last week.
Prost had an inkling of what would happen when she made the list. Before joining the ICC in 2017, she worked on sanctions for the U.N. Security Council. She was targeted by the Trump administration for voting to allow the court’s investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Afghanistan, including by American troops and intelligence operatives.
“I’ve worked all my life in criminal justice, and now I’m on a list with those implicated in terrorism and organized crime,” she said.
The sanctions have taken their toll on the court’s work across a broad array of investigations at a time when the institution is juggling ever more demands on its resources and a leadership crisis centered on Khan. Earlier this year, he stepped aside pending the outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. He denies the allegations.
How companies comply with sanctions can be unpredictable. Businesses and individuals risk substantial U.S. fines and prison time if they provide sanctioned people with “financial, material, or technological support,” forcing many to stop working with them.
The sanctions' effects can be sweeping and even surprising.
Shortly after she was listed, Prost bought an e-book, “The Queen’s Necklace” by Antál Szerb, only to later find it had disappeared from her device.
“It’s the uncertainty,” she said. “They are small annoyances, but they accumulate.”
Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza, a sanctioned Peruvian judge who was involved in the same Afghanistan decision as Prost, told the AP that the problems are “not only for me, but also for my daughters,” who can no longer attend work conferences in the U.S.
Deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan echoed her colleagues’ concerns, saying “You’re never quite sure when your card is not working somewhere, whether this is just a glitch or whether this is the sanction."
Meanwhile the staffers, some of whom also face arrest warrants in Russia, are worried that Washington might sanction the entire ICC, rendering it unable to pay employees, provide financial assistance to protected witnesses or even keep the lights on.
The ICC was established in 2002 as the world’s permanent court of last resort to prosecute individuals responsible for the most heinous atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression. It only takes action when nations are unable or unwilling to prosecute those crimes on their territory.
The court has no police force and relies on member states to execute arrest warrants, making it very unlikely that any U.S. or Israeli official would end up in the dock. But those wanted by the court, like Putin, can risk arrest when traveling abroad or after leaving office — the ICC took custody this year of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is accused of crimes against humanity for his deadly anti-drugs crackdowns.
When explaining Trump's executive order sanctioning the ICC in February, the White House said the move was in response to the “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."
"The United States will not tolerate efforts to violate our sovereignty or to wrongfully subject U.S. or Israeli persons to the ICC’s unjust jurisdiction," Tommy Pigott, a State Department spokesman, said in response to questions from the AP.
There is little the staff can do to get the sanctions lifted. Sanctions imposed during the first Trump administration against the previous prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, weren’t removed until Joe Biden became president.
Ibáñez, a former prosecutor in Peru, vowed that the sanctions wouldn't have any impact on her judicial activities in The Hague. “In my country, I prosecuted terrorists and drug lords. I will continue my work,” she said.
Prost, too, is defiant, saying the sanctioned staff “are absolutely undeterred and unfettered.”
FILE - Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan attends a hearing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (Piroschka van de Wouw/Pool Photo via AP, file)
FILE - Presiding judge Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza prepares to rule on a request to release former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025. (Lina Selg/Pool Photo via AP, file)
An exterior view of the International Criminal Court, ICC, where Ali Muhammad Ali Abd al-Rahman, a leader of the Sudanese Janjaweed militia, will hear the court's verdict, in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s Parliament was dissolved Friday for new elections early next year as the country engaged in deadly fighting with Cambodia.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul dissolved the House of Representatives after getting approval from King Maha Vajiralongkorn, whose endorsement became effective Friday with its publication in the Royal Gazette.
Anutin had signaled the move with a Facebook post late Thursday saying: “I’d like to return power to the people.”
The election must be held 45 to 60 days after the royal endorsement, a period during which Anutin will head a caretaker government with limited powers that cannot approve a new budget.
The move comes at a tricky political moment, as Thailand is engaged in large-scale combat with Cambodia and hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border have been displaced. About two dozen soldiers and civilians have been reported killed, according to official figures, and the Thai military estimates 165 Cambodian soldiers have been killed, though Phnom Penh has not announced any soldiers' deaths.
Anutin has been prime minister for just three months, succeeding Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who served only a year in office before losing office over a scandal that erupted out of a previous round of border tensions.
Anutin won the September vote in Parliament with support from the main opposition People’s Party in exchange for a promise to dissolve Parliament within four months and organize a referendum on the drafting of a new constitution by an elected constituent assembly.
The party, which runs on progressive platforms, has long sought changes to the constitution, imposed during a military government, saying they want to make it more democratic.
The issue of constitutional change appeared to trigger the dissolution, after the People’s Party prepared to call a no-confidence vote Thursday. That threat came after lawmakers from Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party voted in favor of a bill to amend the constitution that the opposition party felt ran against the spirit of the agreement they had reached in September.
The People's Party holds the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives and is seen as the main challenger to Bhumjaithai. As news of the pending dissolution circulated late Thursday, its leaders said they hoped Anutin would still honor the agreement to arrange a constitutional referendum.
Anutin served in Paetongtarn’s former government but resigned from his positions and withdrew his party from her coalition government as she faced controversy over a phone call with Cambodia's Senate President Hun Sen in June.
Paetongtarn, daughter of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was suspended from office ahead of the July fighting, after being found guilty of ethics violations over the politically compromising call.
With Thailand now again engaged in heavy combat against Cambodia, Anutin has embraced an aggressive military posture to appeal to nationalistic public sentiment, and has said Thailand will keep fighting until its sovereignty and safety are guaranteed.
After the five days of border fighting in July, U.S. President Donald Trump pushed the two countries to agree on a ceasefire by threatening to withhold trade privileges from them.
Trump has vowed again to make peace between them after widespread fighting flared up again this week. If he employs the cudgel of high tariffs on Thai exports should Thailand fail to comply with his peacemaking effort comply, it could cause serious damage to its already sluggish economy.
Trump said twice this week that he expects to speak by phone with the Thai and Cambodian leaders, expressing confidence that he would persuade them to stop the fighting.
Anutin on Friday confirmed that he is scheduled to speak with Trump on Friday night, saying he would brief him on the latest situation along the border.
As of Thursday, about two dozen people had been reported killed in this week’s fighting, while hundreds of thousands have been displaced on both sides of the border. The Thai military estimates that 165 Cambodian soldiers have been killed, though no number has been officially announced by Phnom Penh.
“Anutin has capitalized on the renewed border tensions with Cambodia to portray himself as a leader willing to take a nationalist, hard-line stance in defending Thailand’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” commented Napon Jatusripitak, director of the Center for Politics and Geopolitics at Thailand Future, a Bangkok-based think tank.
“This emerging narrative has, at least for now, eclipsed criticisms of his handling of the floods in Southern Thailand and muted scrutiny over lingering questions of his potential involvement with scam networks,” said Napon, who is also a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.
Purawich Watanasukh, a political scientist as Bangkok’s Thammasat University said that the standing of Anutin’s Bhumjaithai Party has slipped in recent weeks due to the southern flood crisis, which took more than 160 lives, and his government’s mishandling of major scam scandals, which tainted some officials and figures in the Thai business community.
“However, the recent clash between Thailand and Cambodia has provided Anutin with an opportunity to reframe himself as a defender of national sovereignty, potentially boosting his popularity, ” Purawich told The Associated Press in an email interview. “Dissolving the House at this moment allows Bhumjaithai to capitalize on this shifting sentiment.
Jintamas reported from Buriram, Thailand.
People warm themselves around a bonfire as they take refuge at Wat Chroy Neangoun's Buddhist pagoda in Siem Reap province, Cambodia Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after fleeing from home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia over territorial claims. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Displaced people arrive to take refuge at Wat Chroy Neangoun's Buddhist pagoda in Siem Reap province, Cambodia Friday, Dec. 12, 2025, after fleeing from home following fighting between Thailand and Cambodia over territorial claims. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, center, walks after attending an event at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, right, gestures as he attends an event at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul gestures as he attends an event at the government house in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, Dec. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Arnun Chonmahatrakool)
Thai residents cover in a shelter in Buriram province, Thailand, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
FILE - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, right, and Thailand's Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, left, react during a signing ceremony on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
