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The International Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor, who brought charges against Israel’s prime minister and former defense minister on war crimes and crimes against humanity, is facing disciplinary proceedings against him over allegations of sexual misconduct.
After more than a year-long process of investigating the claims that Karim Khan engaged in sexual misconduct with a subordinate staffer, the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) has voted in favor of pursuing disciplinary proceedings against Khan, Reuters reported.
According to the New York Times, the alleged victim revealed the sexual contact with Khan to her husband and several colleagues in April 2024. After colleagues confronted Khan in May, the judges’ report cites a witness who noted that Khan “jumped at the ‘lifeline’ of an alternative narrative when another colleague present said he ‘suspected whether Mossad played a role behind the scenes.’”
ICC PROSECUTOR BEHIND NETANYAHU ARREST WARRANTS STEPS ASIDE AMID SEXUAL MISCONDUCT PROBE
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan poses during an interview with AFP at the Cour d’Honneur of the Palais Royal in Paris on February 7, 2024. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) wants to prosecute “environmental crimes” without changing the court’s statute, because environmental damage is often the cause or consequence of war crimes or crimes against humanity that the ICC can already judge, Karim Khan announced on February 7, 2024, in an interview with AFP. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP)
Just weeks later, Khan filed arrest warrants against Israeli Prime MinisterIsraeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The Trump administration sanctioned Khan in February 2025 as a response to the war crimes warrants against the Israeli officials.
Eugene Kontorovich, a professor at George Mason University, told Digital that the fact that Khan “specifically blamed the Mossad for his problems shows he is fundamentally compromised and the investigation that he launched…in any normal legal system would be dismissed with extreme prejudice.”
He said it’s a sign of “how broken” the ICC is “that such a politicized investigation would be allowed to proceed.”
The disciplinary action came as 15 member states voted in favor of moving forward to discipline Khan, with four votes against and two abstentions. In a letter read aloud during the meeting, prosecutors’ office officials noted they were not in favor of Khan remaining in his position as chief prosecutor.
SCANDAL LEAVES INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT GRASPING FOR LEGITIMACY AMID PROBE OF ISRAEL
JERUSALEM – JULY 20: (—-EDITORIAL USE ONLY MANDATORY CREDIT – ‘ISRAEL PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE / HANDOUT’ – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS—-) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C), Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Herzi Halevi (R), and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant (L) follow the attack by Israeli warplanes Hudaydah Port in Yemen, controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis on the Red Sea coast, from the operations center in Jerusalem on July 20, 2024. (Israeli Prime Minister’s Office/Anadolu)
The vote represented a change from the consensus of three judges who determined last month there was insufficient evidence to prove the allegations against Khan “beyond a reasonable doubt,” according to the New York Times report. The judges based findings on a United Nations’ investigation done by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) turned up more than 5,000 pages of evidence. While the U.N. investigation report determined that Khan had “non-consensual sexual contact” with the employee, the judges’ report found there was no evidence of misconduct.
In a press release, the Association of International Criminal Law Prosecutors (AICLP) noted “structural deficiencies” made clear through the proceedings against Khan.
Among these are an Independent Oversight Mechanism whose processes were “inadequate to the task” when it closed an inquiry into the assault after the alleged victim “declined to file a formal complaint” and claimed she feared retaliation. “The Court cannot credibly prosecute the gravest crimes against persons while tolerating a culture in which its own staff are inadequately protected,” the AICLP argued.
Khan’s alleged retaliation against the staff who supported the complainant further concerned the AICLP. “We observe that the standard for fitness to lead the world’s foremost international criminal prosecution office is not simply the absence of proven misconduct beyond reasonable doubt,” the AICLP wrote. “It also includes the demonstrated capacity to command the trust of the institution’s own staff, and that trust, on the evidence now before the Assembly of States Parties, appears to be deeply and publicly fractured.”
Flag with the logo of the of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 29, 2022 in Den Haag, Netherlands. (Alex Gottschalk/DeFodi Images)
The AICLP believes that “a prompt, principled, and transparent resolution is not only a matter of fairness to the individuals directly involved, but a prerequisite for restoring the operational integrity of an Office on which the cause of international criminal justice depends.”
Prior to the announcement of the Bureau’s decision to pursue disciplinary action against Khan, the ICC directed Digital to a press release in which the President of the ASP “expresse[d] concern at the recent media reporting concerning the ongoing disciplinary process regarding the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.” The ASP President called “for due respect for the privacy and the rights of all parties concerned, as well as the integrity of the ongoing process.”
Peter Gallo, formerly an investigator with the OIOS, told Digital that “trying to deflect attention away from the facts of the allegation by blaming Israel is an indication of the anti-Israel bias which clearly exists, and which reduces the ICC to a tool of political warfare rather than any kind of court of justice.”
Gallo noted that “the panel of judges appear to be hung up on there being insufficient evidence to meet the ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’ standard,” and questioned why “one particular international civil servant [should] be subjected to a ridiculously high standard of proof when lower ranking staff are not.”
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The ICC did not respond to follow-up questions about whether investigations into Gallant and Netanyahu will continue should Khan be removed from his post.
The OIOS did not respond to Digital’s request for comment on its report.
Reuters contributed to this report.
