ICC prosecutor Karim Khan removed over 'serious misconduct'

International Criminal Court member states voted Friday to dismiss prosecutor Karim Khan following disputed allegations that he sexually assaulted a female member of his staff.

Khan, 56, was suspended last month by a key governing body of the ICC ahead of the secret ballot in which 82 of 125 members voted to remove him for "serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty."

Sources told AFP only 13 states voted for Khan to stay in his post during the closed-door session at the United Nations headquarters in New York. A further 15 members abstained, while some did not attend the vote.

Khan will challenge "the lawfulness and fairness of the decision through all available legal mechanisms," his lawyer said, while the ICC, based in The Hague, said in a statement it "takes note" of the members' vote.

In May 2025, Khan voluntarily stepped back from his duties to fight the allegations made by one of his female colleagues after an inquiry was launched the previous year.

The alleged victim, a Malaysian lawyer who worked as Khan's direct assistant, gave her account of what happened in an interview last week with CNN.

The woman, who asked to be identified by her first name Sarah, described "an escalation of attempts" that resulted in physical assault.

"There is no way for something to be consensual when you have such a power disparity," she told CNN. "What I think many people don't understand is that Mr Khan was not just my boss, he was everyone's boss."

Khan, who had been in the job since 2021, categorically denies the accusations.

After the vote, Paivi Kaukoranta, head of the governing body that oversees the ICC, praised members for their "spirit of unity shown in upholding the integrity of the court."

The process ensures the court "can discharge its critical mandate in the interests of the international community as a whole and victims of atrocity crimes the world over," she added.

Khan's lawyer Tayab Ali warned the decision has "grave implications" beyond his individual case.

"The independence of the International Criminal Court depends upon its elected officials being protected from removal through processes that are political, procedurally unfair or inconsistent with the findings of independent judicial bodies," Ali said on X.

Khan has faced heavy political pressure during his tenure, leading several headline-grabbing cases.

In 2024, he successfully applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the Gaza war.

The ICC also issued warrants for the arrest of several key leaders of Hamas who have since been killed.

Khan was the target of US sanctions over the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, as were several ICC judges.

Washington welcomed Khan's removal, branding him an example of institutional corruption.

"It is good that he is gone, but he is only one small cog in this irredeemably corrupt institution," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said on X. The US, like Israel, has not ratified the international treaty that established the ICC and it has rejected the court's jurisdiction in cases involving the US or Israel.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Khan's removal was "long-delayed" and that the arrest warrants were "an attempt to deflect from the serious misconduct he feared would be revealed."

"These warrants, issued against a country that is not even a member of the ICC, should never have been sought in the first place and should be revoked immediately," he posted on X.

Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said after Friday's decision that the court "is more than any one person; it's a critical court of last resort that anchors a global movement for justice."

She added that the court should "hold itself to the highest standards."