BREAKING: ICC Member States Dismiss Chief Prosecutor
The International Criminal Court voted to fire Karim Khan over sexual misconduct claims. He denies the accusations and says they’re retaliation for his warrants against Israeli officials.
Members of the International Criminal Court have voted to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan – who two years ago issued arrest warrants against Israeli leaders over the genocide in Gaza — from his role in response to allegations of sexual misconduct.
The vote was held on a secret ballot, and marks the first time a prosecutor was suspended and removed in such a fashion. 82 members reportedly voted to remove Khan, 13 voted against, and 15 abstained.
Allegations against Khan first emerged internally in May 2024.
The complainant, a junior ICC lawyer who worked directly under Khan, alleged that his misconduct began shortly after she joined Khan’s office in March 2023. She alleged that Khan repeatedly subjected her to unwanted sexual advances, and non-consensual sexual contact over the course of months.
The allegations first emerged as Khan was preparing to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, political chairman Ismail Haniyeh, and commander Mohammed al-Masri. The decision to issue the warrants had reportedly already been made when Khan was notified of the accusations against him.
Months later, in October, the allegations were made public.
“There is no truth to suggestions of such misconduct. I have worked in diverse contexts for 30 years and there has never been such a complaint lodged against me by anyone,” Khan said at the time. In November, the ICC announced an external investigation into the allegations.
Then, in May 2025, Khan stepped aside to go on administrative leave until the investigation concluded. In the interim, a second allegation of sexual misconduct was made against Khan in August of 2025, by someone who first began working for Khan as an intern.
In March, after the investigation found evidence that Khan had “nonconsensual sexual contact” with the accuser, a three-judge panel ruled that the investigation was not conclusive enough and that the findings “do not establish misconduct or breach of duty under the relevant legal framework.”
But shortly after, members of the ICC’s executive bureau voted to continue pursuing disciplinary proceedings against Khan. In June, the ICC bureau suspended Khan pending the completion, and a few weeks later, held that Khan had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior staffer and thus that he should be fired.
A week before Friday’s vote, the complainant gave her first television interview, describing her allegations in greater detail and pushing back against claims made to question her credibility.
“I have no other way to describe it but an escalation of attempts,” Sarah – who only shared her first name publicly and is still working at the ICC – told CNN, adding that she said those attempts continued for a year after she started working as Khan’s assistant in early 2023.
“There is no way for something to be consensual when you have such a power disparity. What I think many people don’t understand is that Mr. Khan was not just my boss, he was everyone’s boss,” she said. “And it cannot be consensual.”
Khan had previously denied the allegations, including to Zeteo.
“I denied all of the allegations. It couldn’t be clearer. From the beginning, from the time individuals came to me and I told them, please report it. Follow the normal process. That’s my track record. I denied in their entirety the allegations,” Khan said.
“So, just to be clear… you, Karim Khan, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, are denying the allegations of sexual misconduct from a staffer at the ICC. You’re also denying that you had any kind of relationship with her?” Mehdi asked.
“Absolutely,” Khan replied.
In months after she confided in colleagues about the conduct, Sarah said she faced pressure from Khan and another of his subordinates to rescind the allegations, to say she made them up or had no issue. Khan has denied this accusation.
Sarah’s interview increased the pressure ahead of the ICC vote. “The issue isn’t what he did charging Netanyahu or as an attorney defending Kenya’s William Ruto. Nor is it various procedural evasions concocted by his camp,” former Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said. “The issue is what he did to Sarah. This damning interview about his sexual misconduct makes clear he no longer has the integrity or credibility to lead the ICC.”
At the same time, many have maintained their skepticism about the whole process. A coalition of more than 180 Palestinian and international organizations warned that – while they were not taking a position on the validity of the claims – a lack of due process and a wave of aggressive politicization and attacks from entities, including the U.S., were threatening and corroding the ICC’s independence.
The organizations have criticized how the process conflated political procedures with legal ones. They argued that the ICC bureau “as a political body composed of diplomats, does not have the independence, impartiality or legal expertise to make assessments on the legal characterisation of conduct, nor did it enjoy the same timeframe as the ad hoc Panel to independently examine the two reports and 5,000-pages of evidence.”
They also cited the African Bar Association, which cautioned that "any departure by a political body from the reasoned conclusions of experienced judges could undermine the institutional credibility of the Court and weaken confidence in the rule of law."
Second Accuser
“Patricia,” the intern who also alleged misconduct from Khan, also spoke with CNN. She recounted that Khan had asked his staff to work from his home and that “without fail, every time I was there, it was a constant onslaught of him coming onto me, groping me, grabbing me, kissing my face, touching my hair … trying to get me to engage in intimate activity with him, which I constantly had to bat off.”
Khan’s legal team denied these allegations, adding that “they’re also not new allegations. They’re allegations which have formed part of the evidential record and which were seen alongside the evidence of over 30 other witnesses as well as the evidence of Mr. Khan himself … the complete evidential picture paints a far different, far different picture.”
Patricia told CNN seeing other coverage of allegations against Khan helped her speak out.
The timing of the allegations, Sarah’s specifically, led some to wonder whether it was some form of retaliation against the court – suspicions whipped up by Khan and his allies themselves.
“This is a moment in which myself and the International Criminal Court are subject to a wide range of attacks and threats,” Khan said in October 2024. “It has never been more important that the ICC, including myself as Prosecutor, is able to focus on its job to deliver justice for the victims of international crimes, and demonstrate through our actions that all lives deserve the protection of international law.”
“I will continue to make every effort, to the best of my ability, to deliver on that mandate no matter what actions are taken against me,” he added.
Israeli intelligence agencies have run yearslong campaigns against the ICC, including attempts to intimidate and smear Khan’s predecessor. The U.S. – Israel’s staunchest ally and funder – has also flouted and threatened the ICC.
The first Trump administration sanctioned ICC officials after it opened an investigation into alleged U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. The Biden administration revoked those sanctions, but continued to reject ICC jurisdiction over U.S. nationals, and outwardly defied the court, and its peer institutions, warnings and recommendations regarding Israel’s genocide in Palestine.
And then the second Trump administration picked up where it left off, imposing new sanctions, this time, in response to the court pursuing justice against the Israeli officials whom Biden unconditionally funded.
Last week, in the lead up to Friday’s vote, Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched a campaign to “dismantle” the ICC.
Sarah flatly denied any suggestion that she was working on behalf of Israel. “I think many parties have for their own agenda conflated the two things,” she told CNN. “That conflation has only helped to distract and eflect from the validity of that complaint.”
She also told CNN that part of why she spoke out was because her anonymity allowed others to fashion their own narratives. Asked about her thoughts on the validity of pursuing warrants against Israeli officials, she said she couldn’t speak in specifics, but that she “fully and entirely supports the court’s investigations.”
Check out more from Zeteo:
Justice for the assaulted.
But also justice for Palestine.
If they don't follow up the warrants for Netanjahu, this will reek of vested interest...
I think these women's accusations sound credible. This does nothing to take away from the legitimacy of the judgement the ICC has made against Benjamin Netanyahu and the State of Israel.