{"id":12705,"date":"2022-04-08T10:29:07","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T10:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair"},"modified":"2022-04-08T10:41:28","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T10:41:28","slug":"us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair","title":{"rendered":"US lifts sanctions against ICC pair"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>THE United States has lifted sanctions against a Mosotho national, Phakiso Mochochoko, and Fatou Bensouda who are top officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Mochochoko is the Head of Jurisdiction, Complementary and Cooperation Division at the ICC while Bensouda is the chief prosecutor.<\/p>\n

In a statement last week, the United States announced it was revoking its Executive Order 13928 on \u201cBlocking Property of Certain Persons Associated with the International Criminal Court\u201d.<\/p>\n

The US Secretary of State, Antony J Blinken, said \u201cthis will end the threat and imposition of economic sanctions and visa restrictions in connection with the Court\u201d.<\/p>\n

The sanctions were imposed under the Donald Trump administration. The Department of State also terminated the separate 2019 policy on visa restrictions on certain ICC personnel.<\/p>\n

These decisions reflect their assessment that the \u201cmeasures adopted were inappropriate and ineffective\u201d. Bensouda had angered the Trump administration by opening an investigation into crimes allegedly committed by US soldiers in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

She was also probing war crimes that she said she was convinced \u201chave been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip\u201d committed by Israeli soldiers. The Trump administration had said in a statement that it would hit back at any institution or anybody who was helping her.<\/p>\n

In last week\u2019s statement, Blinken, who replaced Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, said the US however continues \u201cto disagree strongly with the ICC\u2019s actions relating to the Afghanistan and Palestinian situations\u201d.<\/p>\n

Blinken further said: \u201cWe maintain our longstanding objection to the Court\u2019s efforts to assert jurisdiction over personnel of non-States Parties such as the United States and Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201d Blinken said they believe, however, that<\/p>\n

their concerns about these cases would be better addressed through engagement with all stakeholders in the ICC process rather than through the imposition of sanctions.<\/p>\n

He said their support for the rule of law, access to justice, and accountability for mass atrocities are important US national security interests that are protected and advanced by engaging with the rest of the world to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n

He said since the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals after World War II, US leadership meant that history permanently recorded fair judgments issued by international tribunals against justly convicted defendants from the Balkans to Cambodia, to Rwanda and elsewhere<\/p>\n

The statement said Americans believe they have carried on that legacy by supporting a range of international, regional, and domestic tribunals, and international investigative mechanisms for Iraq, Syria and Burma, to realise the promise of justice for victims of atrocities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to do so through cooperative relationships,\u201d Blinken said.<\/p>\n

Blinken said they are encouraged that State Parties to the Rome Statute are considering a broad range of reforms to help the Court prioritise its resources and to achieve its core mission of serving as a court of last resort in punishing and deterring atrocities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think this reform is a worthwhile effort,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking in parliament yesterday, Lesotho\u2019s Foreign Affairs Minister \u2019Mat\u0161epo Ramakoae, thanked US President Joe Biden \u201cfor lifting the sanctions as the investigators were just doing their job\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ramakoae said the decision comes after Lesotho established solid relations with the United States and other European countries. \u201cWe have been pleading that the sanctions be lifted,\u201d Ramakoae said. The ICC investigates crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocides.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. THE United States has lifted sanctions against a Mosotho national, Phakiso Mochochoko, and Fatou Bensouda who are top officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Mochochoko is the Head of Jurisdiction, Complementary and Cooperation Division at the ICC while Bensouda is the chief prosecutor. In a statement last week, the United States […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":12704,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,12,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-12705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nUS lifts sanctions against ICC pair - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"THE United States has lifted sanctions against a Mosotho national, Phakiso Mochochoko, and Fatou Bensouda who are top of ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US lifts sanctions against ICC pair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE United States has lifted sanctions against a Mosotho national, Phakiso Mochochoko, and Fatou Bensouda who are top of ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T10:29:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-08T10:41:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/04\/img-6250112aba289.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"744\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"US lifts sanctions against ICC pair\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-08T10:29:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-08T10:41:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair\"},\"wordCount\":577,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/04\/img-6250112aba289.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/us-lifts-sanctions-against-icc-pair\",\"name\":\"US lifts sanctions against ICC pair - 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