Trump administration sued by Human Rights lawyers over executive order 'silencing' them

A group of leading human rights lawyers is suing the Trump administration over an executive order which allegedly blocks/disrupts their work in seeking justice for the victims of war crimes across the globe. The US President had signed the concerned order earlier this year, threatening “serious consequences” for anyone who backed the work done by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

However, according to The Guardian report, the has forced the lawyers to cancel speeches, presentations, and end research. The lawyers said that they even had to abandon writing ICC-related articles and giving out advice, assistance to the victims of the war atrocities. The plaintiffs are reported to have stated that the effect of the move has been an 'unprecedented infringement' of their constitutional right to free speech and impacted the world of international humanitarian law.

One of the plaintiffs, Diane Marie Amann, professor of international law at the University of Georgia, reportedly said that the Trump administration’s order is “just a wallop, a gut punch, silencing the activities” of her entire life's work. She even argued that it came as a ‘betrayal’ of the US tradition of global leadership on human rights such as creating the Nuremberg Tribunal and playing a prominent role in establishing the ICC. 

Read - Ahead Of EU Summit, Merkel Slams China For 'horrible Human Rights Violation' In Hong Kong

Read - Mike Pompeo Appeals To Pope Francis To Stand Against China's Human Rights Violation

Trump administration sanctioned ICC officials

Trump’s executive order was followed by the imposition of the sanctions on ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda along with another senior ICC official in September. As per reports, these sanctions were originally designed against drug traffickers and terrorists. Amann said in the lawsuit that it is “so sad” to think about how the United States is prohibiting her from doing her work. 

As per reports, the lawsuit was filed on Wednesday, September 30 (local time) in a New York federal court by Amann, three other US-based law professors with all plaintiffs acting in their private capacities and the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI). It is filed against Donald Trump, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, US Attorney General William Barr, Director of the office of foreign assets control Andrea Gacki, along with their respective departments. The lawsuit calls for the executive order to be halted as the court considers its constitutionality. 

Read - At UNHRC, India Lays Bare Pakistan's Inherited Culture Of Hatred; Pans Human Rights Record

Read - Armenia Takes Azerbaijan To European Court Of Human Rights Over Nagorno-Karabakh Tensions