Fatou Bensouda
Fatou Bom Bensouda (/fɑːˈtuː bɛnˈsoʊdə/; née Nyang; born 31 January 1961) is a Gambian lawyer and former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who has served as the Gambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom since 3 August 2022.
Fatou Bensouda | |
|---|---|
Fatou Bensouda official portrait, 2008 | |
| Gambian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom | |
| Assumed office 3 August 2022 | |
| President | Adama Barrow |
| Preceded by | Francis Rene Blain |
| Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court | |
| In office 15 June 2012 – 15 June 2021 | |
| President | Song Sang-Hyun Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi Chile Eboe-Osuji Piotr Hofmański |
| Preceded by | Luis Moreno Ocampo |
| Succeeded by | Karim Khan |
| Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court | |
| In office 8 September 2004 – 15 June 2012 | |
| President | Philippe Kirsch Sang-hyun Song |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | James Stewart |
| Minister of Justice and Attorney General of The Gambia | |
| In office 1998–2000 | |
| President | Yahya Jammeh |
| Preceded by | Hawa Sisay-Sabally |
| Succeeded by | Pap Cheyassin Secka |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Fatou Bom Nyang 31 January 1961 Bathurst (now Banjul), British Gambia (now The Gambia) |
| Spouse | Philip Bensouda |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | University of Ife Nigerian Law School International Maritime Law Institute |
| Occupation | International Criminal Law Prosecutor, diplomat |
| Profession | Lawyer |
She served as Prosecutor from June 2012 to June 2021, after having served as a Deputy Prosecutor in charge of the Prosecutions Division of the ICC from 2004 to 2012. Before that she was Minister of Justice and Attorney General of The Gambia from 1998 to 2000. She has also held positions as a legal adviser and a trial attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
On 2 September 2020, Bensouda was named a "specially designated national" by the United States government under the Trump administration, forbidding all U.S. persons and companies from doing business with her. The Biden administration reversed course on 2 April 2021 when President Joe Biden revoked EO 13928, removing Bensouda from the SDN list; US Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement calling the previous sanctions "inappropriate and ineffective", but still restated that Washington will continue strongly opposing any ICC's actions relating to the Afghanistan and Palestinian situations.