Afrasianet - Two U.S. lawyers have filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's decision to impose sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan.
The lawyers filed a lawsuit in federal court in Bangor, Maine, challenging an executive order Trump signed in February that imposes sanctions on the ICC prosecutor and bars U.S. citizens from providing services that benefit him.
The lawyers argued that the executive order unconstitutionally impedes their freedom of expression.
The lawyers are Matthew Smith, co-founder of Fortify Rights, and international human rights defender Achilla Radakrishnan.
They said it prevented them from speaking with the ICC prosecutor's office, including providing legal advice and evidence, in violation of their First Amendment rights.
Trump's order authorized broad economic and travel sanctions on people working on court investigations against U.S. citizens or allies such as Israel.
The U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) added Khan to the list of sanctioned individuals and entities days later.
Trump's order also said U.S. citizens who provide services to Khan or other sanctioned individuals could face civil and criminal sanctions.
Denunciation and pledge
The court and dozens of countries denounced the sanctions, pledging to stand by its staff and "continue to provide justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities around the world."
Smith and Radakrishnan said in their lawsuit that as a result of Trump's order, they were forced to stop human rights work involving the ICC's prosecutor's office, in which they were seeking justice for victims of atrocities.
Smith, who lives in Maine, said he had previously provided the office with evidence of atrocities committed against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority.
Radhakrishnan said she had advised the office in an investigation into "gender-based violence committed against Afghan women under the Taliban".
"This executive order not only impedes our work, it actually undermines international justice efforts and obstructs accountability to groups facing unimaginable horrors," Smith said in a statement.