US sanctions on ICC did not impact Philippine probe – deputy prosecutor

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The sanctions imposed by the United States on officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) did not impact the investigation in the Philippines, said deputy prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang who is one of the individuals on the sanctions list.

“Luckily, I can say no,” Niang told Rappler in a one-on-one interview right after the pre-trial hearings of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte finished on Friday, February 27.

“Initially, we had thought that the effect would be there. Because the executive order of the president of the United States made it very clear that because of investigation affecting the US or its ally or its friends, and of course, Philippines is one of them. So we could have thought that this could affect that. But we’ve been able to carry on with our investigation and our prosecution as well so far,” said Niang.

The Donald Trump government imposed sanctions on a total of six judges of the ICC, and the three heads of the Office of the Prosecutor – chief prosecutor Karim Khan (on leave), Niang, and his fellow deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan. The sanctions were a consequence to ICC’s arrest warrants against Israeli officials. Trump, during his previous term, also sanctioned former ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda over her investigation into the Americans’ accountability in Afghanistan.

Investigation continues

Niang also confirmed to Rappler that their investigation into the Philippines will continue, and all options remain open, including potentially adding more co-perpetrators.

“We do not rule out meeting more witnesses, particularly some of those who have been like insider who have been state official involved in the crimes, who can be now willing to talk in a certain way, but of course we wouldn’t say no to that,” said Niang.

Niang declined to comment if they are seeking any arrest warrant on any of the eight named co-perpetrators, including Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.

However, under ICC’s newest rules, Niang said they always keep their request for warrants secret, in any case.

“I’m not talking here specifically about the Philippine case, but normally and even more now, now we even have that requirement in our regulatory framework to file them secretly,” said Niang.

“And if we want to go public for whatever reasons, we ask permission to the judges to go public, but we are no longer at liberty even to go public initially as we used to, but even at the time it would be very rare to go public,” said Niang.

The reasons for keeping the request a secret “may be linked to witness protection,” but also to prevent suspects to “go into the hiding.”

Effect on personal life

Niang said that since the sanctions, he can no longer make any financial transaction that involves the US dollar, and it has made it challenging to send money to his children who live abroad.

“Your ability to transfer fund including to your kids when they live abroad like mine, it becomes difficult you know, seeing all your credit card canceled including in your own country because they are Visa or Mastercard, and they have a US nexus,” said Niang.

Niang said the sanctions have also affected some part of his and his wife’s work, in the sense that they could no go longer to high-level meetings in the US.

“We have to present a report to the [United Nations] Security Council. I no longer do that. You know, and it extends to your family. I have a wife who works for the World Bank, so their headquarters is in Washington. So, the sanctions touch all your family, and of course, they cannot go,” said Niang.

Niang said that while the sanctions “come with lots of inconvenience, as a prosecutor you must be prepared for that.”

“Justice indisposes many people, including powerful people. And when they are indisposed, sometimes they can do things that may inconvenience your life. So as a prosecutor, you must always be prepared for that and so yes, we remain unabated,” said Niang.

Trump’s executive order on the sanctions was issued last February 2025, and its language was broad that advocates fear it could have sweeping impacts across the work of the court. The order said: “The United States unequivocally opposes and expects our allies to oppose any ICC actions against the United States, Israel, or any other ally of the United States that has not consented to ICC jurisdiction.”

The wording of the order seems to cover the Philippines, both as an ally of the United States and a country that is currently no longer under the jurisdiction of the ICC. The ICC proceeded to Duterte’s pre-trial, after chambers ruled that it preserved jurisdiction over the crimes which were allegedly committed during the period that the Philippines was a member of the ICC.

Duterte unilaterally withdrew the Philippines in 2018, right after former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda opened preliminary examination. The withdrawal took effect in 2019, following the ICC’s mandated one-year wait period, which is why only crimes that happened from 2011 to 2019 are included in the charges. – Rappler.com