ICC member states vote to dismiss Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations

The vote

ICC member states voted on Friday at United Nations headquarters in New York to dismiss Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan. Diplomatic sources put the secret ballot at 82 in favour, 13 against and 15 abstentions among the court's 125 member states. Article 46 of the Rome Statute requires an absolute majority, 63 votes, to remove a prosecutor. The Assembly of States Parties did not announce the result officially.

It is the first time in the court's 24-year history that member states have removed a sitting chief prosecutor. The decision takes effect immediately.

The vote follows Khan's suspension in June, when the Bureau, the executive body of the Assembly of States Parties, concluded he had committed serious misconduct by entering into a sexual relationship with a member of his staff.

In the context of that power imbalance a sexual relationship could never be appropriate.

Khan, 56, has repeatedly denied the allegations, which were brought by a junior colleague who worked as his assistant. The UN inquiry also examined three retaliation complaints. Khan argues the case is retaliation for his investigation of Israeli officials. The complainant rejects that reading and told CNN there was "no way for something to be consensual when you have such a power disparity".

A contested process

The evidence was compiled by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services, which assembled the record without itself making findings of fact. In March an independent three-judge panel appointed by the Bureau reviewed that record and reached the opposite conclusion to the one the Bureau later adopted.

The Panel is unanimously of the opinion that the factual findings by OIOS do not establish misconduct or breach of duty under the relevant framework.

Khan's lawyers, Tayab Ali and Sareta Ashraph, called the dismissal decision unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence, and said their client was denied the right to be heard on the substance of the misconduct finding.

We know of no court or tribunal in any proper and fair legal system that bars a person facing the gravest professional sanction from being heard.

More than 160 Palestinian organisations said the procedure had been "reduced to a political referendum following the national interests of individual States Parties". Josep Borrell, the former EU foreign policy chief, said the case against Khan is "obviously part of a larger offensive against the ICC". The Netherlands and France said publicly before the session that they would vote for removal. Khan has said he will challenge his dismissal before the administrative tribunal of the International Labour Organization, where ICC staff can contest employment decisions.

From Edinburgh to The Hague

Karim Khan was born in Edinburgh to a Pakistani dermatologist and a British nurse. He studied law in London and spent his early career in the UK prosecution service. Between 1997 and 2001, he served as a legal adviser for the UN ad hoc war crimes tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. He later appeared as defence counsel in ICC cases concerning Kenya, Sudan and Libya, representing William Ruto, then Kenya's deputy president, whose case ICC judges terminated in 2016.

Khan first drew international attention in 2007 as defence lawyer for former Liberian President Charles Taylor, when he walked out of the courtroom on the trial's opening day after announcing Taylor had fired him. He went on to lead a UN team investigating Islamic State crimes in Iraq before winning the ICC prosecutor post in 2021, an outsider candidate propelled by intense political lobbying from the UK and African states.

As prosecutor, Khan made pursuing sexual crimes and defending children's rights focal points. A member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, he often stressed in speeches that he sought to apply the law equally across all situations.

The Gaza warrants and political pressure

In May 2024, Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for three Hamas leaders. "No one can act with impunity," Khan said in a video statement. The warrants, which were subsequently issued, accused the men of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The move placed the ICC in direct confrontation with the United States, whose administration went on to sanction court officials including Khan himself.

His removal does not alter the legal status of those cases. All active ICC warrants remain in force, and only the court's judges can withdraw them.

What comes next

The dismissal triggers the election of a new prosecutor, though a vote is not expected before next year. Until then the office is left to Khan's deputies, among them Mame Mandiaye Niang, who leads the case against former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and is himself under US sanctions.

The 82-13 margin points to broad agreement among member states on the outcome. The 13 votes against and 15 abstentions mark the dispute over whether the process that produced it was fair.