Karim Khan rose to international prominence in May 2024 when he announced he was pursuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, thrusting the International Criminal Court into a tense standoff with the United States. Now, the man who led that charge has been removed from his post.
ICC member states voted Friday to oust Khan following allegations of sexual misconduct, according to two diplomatic sources who spoke with Reuters. The vote took place at United Nations headquarters in New York.
Khan’s path to the world stage began long before his time as ICC prosecutor. He first gained international attention as a defense attorney during the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor. On the very first day of that 2007 trial, Khan made a dramatic exit from the courtroom — defying judges’ orders — after announcing that Taylor had dismissed him as counsel.
Now 56, Khan was born in Edinburgh to a Pakistani dermatologist and a British nurse and pursued his legal education in London. He began his career in the UK prosecution service before transitioning to international law, serving as a legal adviser for United Nations war crimes tribunals covering both the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda from 1997 to 2001.
He later worked on ICC cases involving Kenya, Sudan, and Libya. Among his notable achievements was securing the dismissal of charges against Kenya’s President William Ruto related to post-election violence.
While heading a United Nations team probing Islamic State crimes in Iraq, Khan threw his hat in the ring for the ICC prosecutor position. Though initially left off the shortlist as an outside candidate, he secured the role in 2021 following an intensive lobbying effort backed by the United Kingdom and African nations.
Once in office, Khan made a habit of traveling directly to countries under ICC investigation, including Ukraine, Israel, and the occupied Palestinian territories. In 2023, the court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin — a move that led to Khan himself being convicted in absentia by a Russian court in 2025.
A member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, Khan consistently emphasized prosecuting perpetrators of sexual crimes and protecting children’s rights during his tenure. He frequently stated publicly that he aimed to apply the law equally and without bias in every situation.
His decision to seek arrest warrants for Netanyahu in May 2024 set off a firestorm. In a video announcing the warrants — which cited alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza — Khan declared, “No one can act with impunity.” ICC judges confirmed the warrants later that year, drawing sharp criticism not only from Israel and the United States but also from ICC member countries including Italy and Hungary.
The United States subsequently imposed sanctions on 11 court officials, among them Khan, as well as several non-governmental organizations involved in the Gaza case.
In October 2024, amid the political pressure surrounding the Netanyahu warrants, reports emerged that a junior lawyer in Khan’s office had accused him of sexual misconduct. Khan denied the allegations and stepped away from his duties in May 2025, saying intense media attention was interfering with his ability to work.
On June 8, the executive bureau of the ICC’s governing body — composed of diplomats from member states — issued a ruling concluding that Khan had engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior lawyer and recommended his termination, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
In recent public statements, Khan and his legal team have hinted that the misconduct accusations may be part of a coordinated political effort by Israel and its allies to undermine the court.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, pushed back on that framing. “He sought to scapegoat Israel in an attempt to divert attention from his own misconduct,” Danon said. “The international community rejected that cynical attempt today.”
United Nations investigators, according to ICC documents seen by Reuters, rejected claims that the alleged victim had ties to foreign intelligence agencies.
With Friday’s vote finalizing Khan’s removal, the ICC will now move forward with selecting a new prosecutor. France, the Netherlands, and Norway were among the countries that publicly backed his dismissal.
