A human rights group has filed a lawsuit against US President Donald Trump's administration, challenging an executive order calling for sanctions against the International Criminal Court.
Human Rights First said the order breaches the rights of lawyers, such as Amal Clooney, involved in ensuring accountability for war crime and other abuses.
The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of ICC trial lawyer Eric Iverson, saying Mr Trump's order violates the First Amendment to the US Constitution and puts lawyers at risk of criminal prosecution or steep civil financial penalties.
Ms Clooney, an international human rights lawyer and wife of actor George Clooney, could find herself unable to enter the US due to the executive order, issued in February.
It states that the ICC "has engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel".
It did not name the targets of the sanctions at the time, but said it would deny visas and issue sanctions against the assets of the World Court's officials and their families.
The ICC's lead prosecutor Karim Khan last May issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence chief Yoav Gallant, in addition to Hamas leaders, over the war in Gaza.
British-Lebanese barrister Ms Clooney, who co-founded the Clooney Foundation for Justice, was part of a panel of advisers Mr Khan consulted before seeking the arrest warrants. She is a long-time human rights lawyer who was named Time's Woman of the Year in 2022.
“These sanctions are not only an attack on international justice — they’re an attack on the rule of law and those who dedicate their lives to upholding it,” said Uzra Zeya, president and chief executive of Human Rights First, which filed the suit on behalf of
The Financial Times reported last month that the UK Foreign Office had warned senior British lawyers they are at risk due to the sanctions because of advice they provided to the ICC on the Israel case.
In May 2024, Ms Clooney and the other members of the panel released a statement through the Times in which they stated there were “reasonable grounds” to believe Mr Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Israel. Mr Sinwar was killed in an Israeli strike in October.
It is unclear how Ms Clooney's financial assets may be affected if she is included under the sanction. It is difficult to say what kind of visa Ms Clooney holds, but it can be assumed that she holds one that allows her to live and work in the US. As she is married to an American citizen - actor Clooney - she could have permanent residency, also known as a green card.
The National has contacted the White House for comment.
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Yahya Al Ghassani's bio
Date of birth: April 18, 1998
Playing position: Winger
Clubs: 2015-2017 – Al Ahli Dubai; March-June 2018 – Paris FC; August – Al Wahda
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
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Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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