ICC prosecutor Karim Khan on leave amid sexual misconduct probe

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has stepped down temporarily as an investigation by United Nations investigators into alleged sexual misconduct by him nears its end, court sources told Reuters on Friday.

A statement was expected later on Friday announcing that Khan was going on administrative leave, sources in the prosecutor's office said.

The office of the prosecutor was not immediately available for comment.

Khan has denied allegations of misconduct that were reported to the court's governing body in October last year.

When the allegations against Khan emerged, several NGOs and ICC staff members called for the prosecutor to step down temporarily for the duration of the investigation, but the prosecutor stayed on.

Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, told Reuters that Khan had spoken to U.N. investigators last week in what is believed to be the final interview of the external investigation into the allegations which started in December.

It is unclear when the probe will finish and also what the outcome will be and what it would mean.

A source in the prosecutor's office said it was unclear who would assume Khan's tasks at the ICC, which has been hit by U.S. sanctions under President' Donald Trump's administration and has high-profile war crimes investigations under way into the Israel-Hamas conflict and Russia's war in Ukraine.