European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa threw their weight behind the International Criminal Court Wednesday, after Washington announced sanctions against its president and another senior court official.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sanctioned the ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye on Tuesday, accusing the court of targeting officials from countries that reject its jurisdiction given its pursuit of Israeli officials for alleged war crimes in Gaza. While Israel and the U.S. don’t belong to the ICC, the court says it has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in Palestinian territories.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended Washington’s move on Tuesday, praising Rubio and calling the ICC a “kangaroo court that cloaks its abuse of power in the language of international law.” Netanyahu, who is wanted by the court, has denied the allegations of war crimes.

In a joint statement posted on X in response to the new sanctions, von der Leyen and Costa said they “stand firmly with the [ICC], President Tomoko Akane and the officials who uphold its mission.” The court helps deliver justice to victims of some of the world’s worst crimes, they noted, and its judges and officials must be able to work “independently and without external pressure.”

Commission Executive Vice-President Teresa Ribera struck a similar tone, calling the sanctions “profoundly sad and unfair.” The EU stands with the court, its president and officials, she said.

The statements add to mounting pushback from other U.S. allies.

Germany similarly said it stood by Akane and the court on Wednesday, with Martin Giese — a deputy spokesperson for Germany’s foreign ministry — stating the ICC was “fulfilling its mandate exactly as intended” by holding perpetrators of the gravest crimes to account.

Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen posted on X Tuesday evening, saying the Netherlands “disapproves” of the sanctions and warning that international courts “must be able to freely carry out their mandates.” Berendsen has invited Akane to The Hague for talks on continued Dutch support.

Washington has been ramping up pressure on the court recently, with Rubio vowing to “systematically dismantle” the tribunal’s ability to act against Americans and other non-member countries.

The ICC itself decried the sanctions in a statement released Wednesday, calling the measures a “flagrant attack” on its independence. Targeting judges and prosecutors for carrying out their mandate “undermine[s] the rule of law,” the court warned.

“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk.”

This story has been updated.

Florida Republican Michael Caruso has strong opinions about pedophiles: they should receive the death penalty when convicted of sexually battering children under 12 years of age. He was arrested Tuesday and charged with five felony counts of child abuse.

Caruso, 67, formerly Palm Beach's House Representative and its current county clerk, allegedly kidnapped and molested a young child. — Read the rest

The post Florida Republican who wants child sex abusers put to death is one, say cops appeared first on Boing Boing.

I’m a huge fan of the corporate death penalty, a legal process in which a corporation is forced to dissolve or stop existing. (This is actually the only death penalty I support, because the state executing humans isn’t just unethical, it also doesn’t work to deter homicides. But unlike what the Supreme Court believes, I don’t think of corporations as human.) More formally known as judicial dissolution, the corporate death penalty basically happens when the government is so pissed off by the corruption or damage a corporation causes that it yanks away their charter. 

There is at least one semi-recent example of the government destroying a business as punishment for corruption. Arthur Andersen was once one of the “Big Five” accounting firms (it’s now the Big Four) that dominate the financial sector. Among the company’s biggest customers was Enron, the energy company that infamously filed for bankruptcy in 2001 after widespread internal fraud was uncovered. The largest corporate bankruptcy in American history at the time, Arthur Andersen was instrumental in helping Enron cover up that fraud by destroying evidence, and the firm was indicted and found guilty of a narrow charge of obstructing a Securities and Exchange Commission official proceeding. Arthur Andersen surrendered its CPA license, effectively putting the firm out of business in 2002, although the Supreme Court later overturned the conviction. But the damage was done, and the firm no longer exists. 

The post Bring back the corporate death penalty appeared first on Salon.com.

Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen lashed out at the Trump administration on Tuesday after Washington sanctioned two senior officials at the International Criminal Court over probes targeting alleged Israeli crimes in Gaza.

Earlier in the day, Washington had upped the ante in its campaign against the international tribunal by sanctioning ICC President Tomoko Akane and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye.

“The Netherlands disapproves of the latest sanctions against officials and staff of the International Criminal Court,” Berendsen wrote on X. “International courts and tribunals must be able to freely carry out their mandates.” He added that the Netherlands “fully” backed the court and had invited Akane for talks to discuss its continued support.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused the court of threatening American sovereignty, saying the administration was acting to protect its citizens from a “sham” institution and would never allow Americans to be “transported beyond seas to be tried for pretend offenses.”

Tuesday’s sanctions are part of a campaign Washington launched last month to cripple the ICC. The U.S. has already sanctioned at least 11 ICC officials and has urged the court’s 125 member states to withdraw from the organization.

The Hague-based ICC, established in 2002, prosecutes genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Its pursuit of charges against senior Israeli politicians on such grounds, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, against whom it has issued an arrest warrant, has been a particular sore point for the U.S.

The court issued a statement on Tuesday pushing back against Washington, warning that measures punishing judges, prosecutors and staff for carrying out their mandate “undermine the rule of law” and put the international legal order at risk.

Netanyahu, who is wanted by the court for allegedly using starvation as a method of warfare and intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population of Gaza, applauded Washington’s move, branding the ICC a “kangaroo court” and praising Rubio for making clear that its officials would “face consequences.”