Representatives of the member states of the International Criminal Court voted on Friday to remove the court’s chief prosecutor, almost two years after the first allegations of sexual misconduct against him emerged, two diplomats told The Associated Press (AP).
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British lawyer Karim Khan was accused of sexual misconduct with an assistant, allegations he has always denied.
By a large majority, the 125 ICC member states removed Khan from his post, marking the first time a chief prosecutor has been removed from the international body.
Khan, 56, was temporarily suspended from his duties at the ICC last month, pending Friday’s vote, after a report by the executive committee of the court’s oversight body determined he had committed “serious misconduct.”
According to documents cited by AP, Khan had a sexual relationship with the woman and tried to prevent her from pursuing her accusations. Khan denies these findings.
At the start of the session, a motion presented by Sierra Leone that would have made Khan’s removal more difficult failed, and diplomats quickly proceeded to vote on his removal, several hours ahead of schedule, according to three diplomats consulted by the US agency.
The vote resulted in 82 votes in favor and 13 against. At the same time, 15 states abstained.
This long and complex process has pitted human rights defenders, staff, and member states against each other at a time when the Court already faces major challenges, AP noted. Among them, a US campaign to “dismantle” the ICC, established to prosecute those responsible for the worst crimes against humanity.
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In a statement last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated that the United States was launching a “comprehensive campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to American sovereignty.”
Rubio declared that he would pressure member states to withdraw from the institution, sanction organizations that collaborate with the Court, and prohibit staff from traveling to the United States. Countries that “benefit from the American security umbrella” must reject the court’s jurisdiction over American citizens, he added.
The Donald Trump administration has already imposed sanctions against Khan and a dozen other ICC staff members in retaliation for arrest warrants issued by the court against senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for the war in Gaza and investigations into US personnel in Afghanistan.
“Karim Khan believed that by launching a political witch hunt against Israel and issuing a politically motivated arrest warrant against Prime Minister Netanyahu, the world would ignore the serious allegations of sexual misconduct against him. He was wrong,” declared Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon.
According to experts, the accusations have become intertwined with the Court’s investigation into the war in Gaza.
“Political considerations have been incorporated into this, especially since it is the first time a prosecutor has sought arrest warrants against a Western ally,” Utrecht University researcher Iva Vukusic, who has followed the process, told AP.
Khan’s removal will not have an immediate impact on the 2024 arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity, which can only be withdrawn by ICC judges.
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