The Assembly of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the legislative and oversight body in which the States that make up the court are represented, has requested an external investigation into the alleged inappropriate behavior of the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. The British jurist has denied the facts and has assured that he will collaborate in the process from his position. According to information published by British and American media, the case is related to alleged sexual harassment by the prosecutor of a co-worker. The announcement of the investigations comes amid intense scrutiny of the ICC after Khan asked judges to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as as against three Hamas leaders whom Israel considers dead.
The court has already conducted an internal investigation into the matter. Last October, the prosecutor asked the CFI’s Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM) to immediately open an investigation into his accusation of alleged misconduct. “I will cooperate fully,” he said in a message on the social network X. Khan also said that he had worked “in various contexts for 30 years” and no one had ever made a complaint of this type.
The IOM conducts inspections and evaluations in addition to internal court investigations. Reports of fraud or inappropriate behavior in relation to staff are confidential. “After speaking with the interested party and in the absence of a formal complaint on her part, no further progress was made,” according to the TPI Assembly. In the statement announcing the current investigation, the “particular circumstances of this case, including the victim-centered perspective,” are recognized.
The woman’s lack of reporting may be due to several factors. Among them, a lack of confidence in the procedure or in the members of the IOM. Its next director may be a figure close to the prosecutor, and to avoid possible conflicts of interest, the same note emphasizes that “exceptionally” it is resorted to investigating the matter with external experts. In a statement issued last week, Päivi Kaukoranta, president of the Assembly, said that “any report of misconduct is taken very seriously.”
While the investigation continues, Khan has said that his two deputy prosecutors will handle everything related to this matter. “At my request, a coordination group that does not depend on me has already assumed responsibility for addressing these issues,” he indicated.
Khan, 54, is a British jurist, with a Pakistani father and a British mother, is married and has been both a defense lawyer and a prosecutor in international justice. In 2018, António Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, appointed him head of the team in charge of investigating the crimes committed by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq. In 2021, he was elected chief prosecutor of the ICC for a nine-year period. Since then, he has been in charge of cases with great political repercussions, such as investigations into both sides in the Ukrainian war. In addition to denying any veracity to the allegations about his conduct, he has warned that both he and the TPI “face a wide series of attacks and threats due to ongoing cases.”
Last May, Khan asked judges to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant over the Middle East conflict. The prosecutor had reasonable grounds to believe in his responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity since October 7. That day, Hamas and other Palestinian militias killed around 1,200 people in Israeli territory and kidnapped 250. The prosecutor’s arrest request included three Hamas leaders, whom the Israeli government considers killed in attacks by its army. They are Yahiya Sinwar, Mohamed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
Earlier this year, the British newspaper Guardian revealed that Israeli intelligence agencies had waged a decade-long campaign against the ICC, which included threats and attempts to discredit senior officials.
In 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for his alleged responsibility in the forced deportation of Ukrainian minors to Russia. It is a war crime for which Maria Lvova-Belova, the Kremlin’s commissioner for children’s rights, is also wanted. After reviewing the evidence presented by the Prosecutor’s Office, the judges considered that “there were reasonable grounds to sustain the responsibility of both.” The ICC only judges those most responsible for the greatest crimes of international justice, and the order against Putin—a serving president—was a turning point.
