The Assembly of States Parties to the International Criminal Court has voted to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan following allegations of sexual misconduct, marking the first dismissal of a chief prosecutor in the court’s 24-year history. The decision comes as the Hague-based tribunal faces mounting pressure from the United States, which has imposed sanctions on ICC officials and pledged to dismantle the institution.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has removed its Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, after the Assembly of the court’s 125 States Parties voted to dismiss him over allegations of sexual misconduct. The decision, reported by Reuters citing two anonymous sources, represents an unprecedented development in the court’s 24-year history and comes amid escalating pressure on the institution from the United States.
According to Reuters, the motion to remove Khan was approved by 82 of the court’s 125 member states during a meeting in New York. The vote took place as the ICC continues to face significant challenges following sanctions imposed by the United States on eight judges and three prosecutors. The political pressure intensified after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in an article published in The Wall Street Journal on 13 July that Washington was prepared to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick, if necessary”.
Khan, a 56-year-old British lawyer who has served both as a barrister and prosecutor during his career, was suspended from his duties at the beginning of June. A month earlier, he had requested leave following the opening of the investigation into the allegations. The office of the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor is widely regarded as one of the central pillars of international criminal justice, and the allegations have significantly affected both Khan’s position and the standing of the court.
The complainant, a Malaysian lawyer identified only as Sarah, publicly recounted her allegations for the first time during an interview with the US television network CNN after remaining anonymous for the previous two years. According to an investigation by the Dutch newspaper NRC, Sarah studied law in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands before obtaining an internship at the ICC. After several years and a competitive selection process, she became an assistant to Khan. During the interview, she described what she called “a progression of attempts” culminating in a physical assault, stating that there could be no genuine consent because of the significant imbalance of power between herself and the Chief Prosecutor. She added that Khan “was not only my boss; he was everyone’s boss”.
The allegations were initially examined by the ICC’s Independent Oversight Mechanism, which concluded that the evidence collected indicated that non-consensual sexual contact had occurred. Khan’s legal representatives rejected those findings, maintaining that he had never engaged in prohibited conduct. The court subsequently referred the matter to three internationally respected judges from different countries for legal assessment. The judges unanimously concluded that the available evidence did not establish misconduct “beyond reasonable doubt”, the standard required in criminal proceedings. By contrast, the Independent Oversight Mechanism had applied the civil law standard based on the balance of probabilities.
Khan’s temporary departure from office in June coincided with mounting operational difficulties for the ICC following United States sanctions imposed after judges, acting on requests from the Office of the Prosecutor, issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The same applications also included three Hamas leaders who are now believed to have died. The sanctions have affected eight judges and three prosecutors, including Khan, restricting their ability to carry out everyday financial transactions, including the use of credit cards and making travel or accommodation bookings. The measures also extend to individuals who cooperate with the court.
The proceedings involving Khan have lasted two years and conclude at a critical moment for the ICC as it confronts sustained opposition from the United States, which is not a member of the court. Washington argues that the ICC infringes upon US sovereignty and does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction over American citizens accused of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or the crime of aggression committed outside US territory. In his 13 July article in The Wall Street Journal, Rubio wrote that the United States, working together with its allies, would dismantle the ICC “brick by brick, if necessary”.
Since its establishment in 2002, the ICC has had three chief prosecutors: Argentina’s Luis Moreno Ocampo, who served from 2003 to 2012; The Gambia’s Fatou Bensouda, who served as deputy prosecutor from 2004 before becoming Chief Prosecutor until 2021; and Karim Khan. According to the source material, Moreno Ocampo also faced allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct that were the subject of internal investigations without any public outcome. Bensouda’s earlier role as a prosecutor in The Gambia during the rule of Yahya Jammeh was later examined by the country’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission. She maintained that she had been unaware of torture, disappearances or unlawful detentions and described the scrutiny as an effort to discredit her.
The dismissal of Khan has prompted renewed scrutiny of leadership within international justice institutions. The source material cites Lucy Gaynor, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam and the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, who questioned whether the office of prosecutor itself encourages misconduct or whether individuals predisposed to such behaviour are more likely to attain the position.
