The 55-year-old Briton made global headlines in 2024 when he applied for arrest warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister. [Getty]
A key governing body of the International Criminal Court on Monday suspended chief prosecutor Karim Khan as he faces sexual abuse allegations against a member of his office.
The 21-member bureau of the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) decided to refer Khan’s case to the wider ASP that represents every member country of the ICC.
The bureau decided “by qualified majority… to suspend the Prosecutor from duty with immediate effect pending the final decision of the Assembly of States Parties as the competent decision-maker,” the body said in a statement.
“The bureau emphasises that this suspension is not an indication of the final outcome,” added the statement.
The decision will have little practical impact on the functioning of the court, as the 55-year-old Khan stepped aside in May 2025, taking a leave of absence to fight the allegations that he denies.
He has already been removed from pleading in the ICC’s most high-profile case against former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte.
A special session of the ASP will be convened as soon as possible to discuss the Khan case, according to the statement.
Sources told Reuters earlier that a report by United Nations investigators found a “factual basis” for the allegations of sexual misconduct made by a female aide and that witness accounts “lend support to her claims”.
However, a second report by three judges that analysed the UN report found the evidence insufficient to establish the truth of the allegations “beyond a reasonable doubt”, they added.
Lawyers for Khan had told Reuters that the judges unanimously concluded that the “factual findings do not establish misconduct or breach of duty.”
The 55-year-old Briton hit the headlines when he successfully applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over the Gaza war.
He was among the first to be sanctioned by Israel’s ally, the United States, which expressed outrage over the arrest warrants.
(AFP)
