ICC votes to dismiss Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan
Deutsche Welle · LC · trust 35/100
Members of the International Criminal Court have voted to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Khan has denied the accusations.
https://p.dw.com/p/5HfRh A majority of the ICC's 125 members voted to dismiss Karim Khan as chief prosecutor of the global tribunal (FILE: February 12, 2024) Image: Piroschka van de Wouw/REUTERS Advertisement International Criminal Court members voted on Friday to dismiss Karim Khan as prosecutor following allegations of sexual misconduct.
The ICC's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), found that Khan had committed "serious misconduct and serious breach of duty," ASP President Paivi Kaukoranta said.
A British barrister, Khan was accused of sexual misconduct by a female aide, allegations which he has repeatedly denied.
He had been temporarily removed from his duties at the ICC in June , following a report by the executive committee of the court's oversight body that found he had committed "serious misconduct."
In all, 82 of the court's 125 member states voted in favor of Khan's removal, while 13 voted against and 15 countries abstained.
Khan, 56, made headlines in 2024 when he successfully applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the Gaza war, as well as leading members of the Hamas militant group who have since been killed. Hamas carried out the October 7, 2023 terror attacks on Israel.
All active ICC warrants will remain in place despite Khan's dismissal, because only ICC judges have the authority to withdraw warrants.
Khan's lawyer, Tayab Ali, said Khan would challenge his dismissal.
"Mr. Khan will challenge the lawfulness and fairness of the decision, though all available legal mechanisms," Ali wrote in a post on X.
Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch and now a visiting professor at Princeton University, wrote on X that the ICC states did "the right thing" by removing Khan.
Israel 's Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, criticized Khan, suggesting the barrister had thought that the arrest warrants against Israeli officials, which Danon called a "political witch hunt," would "distract from serious sexual misconduct allegations."
ICC prosecutor suspended: can the court still serve justice? To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
The move to dismiss Khan also comes at a time when the US President Donald Trump's administration is seeking to weaken and undermine the ICC . The court, based in the Dutch city of The Hague, investigates and prosecutes individuals for genocide and other crimes against humanity.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently said that the US had begun a "sweeping campaign to dismantle the threat posed by the International Criminal Court to US sovereignty."
The State Department said countries that enjoy the benefits of the US security umbrella are "called upon to reject the ICC's purported authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen." The State Department is also mulling "visa revocations and travel bans for ICC personnel" along with "increased sanctions against the ICC and affiliated organizations."
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC.
Meanwhile, Venezuela said it would withdraw from the ICC on Friday. The move comes after Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro was abducted and overthrown by the US earlier this year and replaced by interim leader Delcy Rodriguez, who has been willing to comply with the Trump administration's demands.
Notes from Caracas — Venezuela and the US intervention To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia said the "court's actions reflect a demonstrated geographical bias, which disproportionately concentrated its work on African and Latin American countries, to the detriment of the Global South."
Plasencia said the withdrawal was at the instruction of Delcy Rodriguez.
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