Worldwide Prison Court docket chief prosecutor Karim Khan attends a United Nations Safety Council assembly on Sudan and South Sudan in January in New York Metropolis.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photos
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Michael M. Santiago/Getty Photos
Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the Worldwide Prison Court docket in The Hague, who’s dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct, has quickly stepped apart as a United Nations investigation enters its remaining stage, the court docket introduced Friday.
A senior official with information of the matter, talking anonymously as a result of they weren’t approved to speak publicly concerning the case, additionally confirmed to NPR that Khan was on administrative depart whereas the U.N.’s Workplace of Inner Oversight Providers, which is main the investigation, completes its inquiry. The senior official stated there had been strain on Khan since final Might final yr, and high officers from the states events which are a part of the ICC have urged him to step down.
In an inner message despatched to representatives of ICC states events, Ambassador Päivi Kaukoranta of Finland wrote: “On 16 May 2025, the Prosecutor communicated to [the Registrar] via email his decision to take leave until the end of the OIOS process. According to the Prosecutor’s message, the Deputy Prosecutors will be in charge of the management of the Office of the Prosecutor during the Prosecutor’s absence.”
In response to NPR’s request for remark, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah despatched a press release confirming Khan’s depart.
The Worldwide Federation for Human Rights welcomed Khan’s determination to step apart, saying in a press release that it was “the only responsible decision” and calling his short-term departure “essential to protecting the integrity of the court.”
Final week, the Wall Avenue Journal reported accusations towards Khan by one in all his former aides, a lawyer from Malaysia in her 30s. Citing testimony that the paper stated she gave to U.N. officers, the Journal reported that she accused him of getting forcible sexual activity together with her throughout missions to New York, Colombia, Congo, Chad and Paris, and at a residence owned by his spouse in The Hague, allegations Khan has denied.
NPR has not independently confirmed the allegations reported within the Wall Avenue Journal. NPR was unable to succeed in Khan’s legal professionals, however they’ve denied the accusations within the Wall Avenue Journal, which reported that “Khan, through his lawyers, said it was ‘categorically untrue that he has engaged in sexual misconduct of any kind.'”
Based on the paper, the lawyer from Malaysia testified to United Nations investigators that Khan initiated undesirable sexual contact over a number of months, in the end coercing her into intercourse, and that she remained in her job as a result of she did not wish to depart one of many world’s main human rights establishments. She additionally reported fearing that shedding her wage would depart her unable to pay her mom’s hospital payments for most cancers remedy.
The court docket’s announcement on Friday follows an inner assessment and comes amid mounting strain from america. The Trump administration positioned sanctions on the ICC in February for what it termed “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”
Khan has been main the case during which the ICC issued arrest warrants final November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Protection Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged warfare crimes and crimes towards humanity within the Gaza Strip. An arrest warrant was additionally issued in November for a Hamas army commander, whose loss of life was later confirmed by Hamas.
Netanyahu and Gallant haven’t appeared earlier than the court docket. Israel denies allegations of warfare crimes associated to its army assaults in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on Israel. With Khan’s short-term departure, the way forward for the case seems unsure.
