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Geneva, Switzerland - The UN human rights chief on Friday demanded the US lift sanctions it imposed on four International Criminal Court judges on behalf of its ally , amid a chorus of international condemnation.

The UN led a chorus of condemnations after the US imposed sanctions on four ICC judges on behalf of its ally, Israel. © REUTERS

"I am profoundly disturbed by the decision of the Government of the United States of America to sanction judges of the International Criminal Court," Volker Turk said in a statement.

"I call for the prompt reconsideration and withdrawal of these latest measures," he said.

"Attacks against judges for performance of their judicial functions, at national or international levels, run directly counter to respect for the rule of law and the equal protection of the law – values for which the US has long stood.

"Such attacks are deeply corrosive of good governance and the due administration of justice," he said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio .

Two of the targeted judges, Beti Hohler of Slovenia and Reine Alapini-Gansou of Benin, took part in proceedings that led to an arrest warrant issued last November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accused of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza.

The two other judges, Luz del Carmen Ibanez Carranza of Peru and Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, were part of the court proceedings that led to the authorization of an investigation into allegations that US forces committed war crimes during the war on Afghanistan.

There are currently no ICC proceedings involving the latter cases.

As legal experts, scholars, and states accused the US of further damaging international law, Slovenia officially called for the activation of a European Union act to protect its national, judge Hohler.

The US has facilitated Israel's 19-month-long destruction of Gaza at every step, opening itself up to widespread .

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