The ICC’s chief prosecutor was accused of sexual misconduct

Members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have voted to dismiss Karim Khan as chief prosecutor over sexual misconduct allegations.

In the year Khan, who was appointed as the ICC’s third prosecutor in 2021, was suspended last month. The decision to resign was approved by 82 votes.

In June, the court’s superior body found him guilty of “gross breach of duty and gross misconduct” for allegedly having inappropriate sexual relations with a minor ICC staff member and seeking to pursue her complaint.

Khan has repeatedly denied all the allegations leveled against him.

The lawyers described the ban as “illegal, procedurally unfair and not supported by evidence”.

This process goes beyond the fate of a single prosecutor and could shape the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal.

The misconduct investigation has blindsided the institution, deepened divisions within it, and played alongside an unprecedented campaign of undermining, even dismantling the ICC altogether.

The fear among its supporters is that the court will emerge weakened and unable to face the most pressing international threats.

Khan, a prominent British barrister, is on voluntary leave to fight the allegations from May 2025. He is barred from practicing law in the UK after the Bar Standards Board imposed a temporary suspension while it conducts its own investigation.

He was unable to attend the election at the United Nations headquarters in New York because he was denied entry to the United States due to the Trump administration’s ICC investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Israeli officials in Gaza.

Regardless of whether he is removed, the controversy is unlikely to end there.

The decision follows a very careful process and has put the court under intense scrutiny.

In May 2024, an allegation that Khan sexually assaulted a female colleague was reported to the ICC by a third party.

The Court’s Independent Monitoring Mechanism (IOM) opened an investigation, but the case was closed after the victim refused to participate.

Critics of the process said the investigation was mishandled and undermined confidence in the IOM.

Investigators ultimately said there was insufficient evidence to substantiate the charges.

A second referral was made in October 2024. The case was transferred to the United Nations Office of the Internal Oversight Service (OIOS), which conducted a wide-ranging investigation into alleged sexual misconduct and abuse of power.

That inquiry ran from November 2024 to December 2025 and produced more than 5,000 pages of evidence and testimony.

The OIOS findings were then reviewed by a three-judge panel tasked with recommending whether Khan’s conduct amounted to serious misconduct, less serious misconduct or no misconduct.

The case comes at a time of particular pressure on the ICC amid widespread political tensions.

After that, the United States imposed sanctions on Khan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu requested an arrest warrant. and former Defense Minister Yoav Galant for alleged crimes related to the Gaza war.

Washington’s general attitude towards the court has been increasing in recent years.

Earlier this month, the US launched a new “whole-of-government” campaign to dismantle the ICC “brick by brick”, threatening US sovereignty, visa bans, asset embargoes and diplomatic pressure on allies to withdraw from the court or reject its jurisdiction over their own citizens.

The United States, Russia and Israel are not members of the ICC. However, the court may exercise jurisdiction over crimes committed by nationals of ICC member states.