U.S. judge blocks Trump sanctions targeting human rights lawyers, war crimes tribunal
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. judge on Monday blocked the Trump administration from sanctioning human rights lawyers for supporting the work of the world’s war crimes tribunal, the International Criminal Court.
U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla in Manhattan issued a preliminary injunction against the White House from imposing criminal or civil penalties against four law professors under an executive order from President Donald Trump last June.
Trump had authorized economic and travel sanctions against employees of the Hague-based ICC and anyone supporting its work, including a probe into whether U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2014.
Failla said the plaintiffs would likely succeed in showing that Trump’s order unconstitutionally stifled their speech, resulting in irreparable harm.
“The court is mindful of the government’s interest in defending its foreign policy prerogatives and maximizing the efficacy of its policy tools,” Failla wrote. “Nevertheless, national-security concerns must not become a talisman used to ward off inconvenient claims.”
more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-warcrimes-afghanistan-trump-idUSKBN2992MD
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