The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, has been fired over allegations of sexual misconduct. Khan, who sought an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two years ago, was voted out of office by ICC member states. The 56-year-old British-Pakistani lawyer had been accused of sexually harassing a female aide.
“Member states of the International Criminal Court on Friday voted to dismiss Karim Khan as prosecutor following allegations of sexual misconduct,” Reuters reported Friday evening, citing officials. “According to the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, 82 of the court’s 125 member states voted in favour of the prosecutor’s removal. Khan denies the allegations.”
Khan headed the ICC prosecutor’s office for roughly five years, during which he went after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials. These Israeli government and military officials were involved in planning and execution of the Israeli military response against Hamas terrorists and bringing home the hostages after the October 7 attack.
Media reports suggest that Khan may have timed Netanyahu’s arrest warrants to divert attention from serious allegations against him. “An investigation by The Associated Press last year found that two court employees, in whom the alleged victim confided, reported the alleged misconduct in May 2024 to the court’s independent watchdog,” the AP News reported in May 2026. “That was a few weeks before Khan sought arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defense minister (…).”
The BBC reported Khan’s ouster:
Members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have voted to dismiss Karim Khan as chief prosecutor for alleged sexual misconduct.Elected the ICC’s third prosecutor in 2021, Khan was suspended last month. The decision to remove him was passed with 82 votes in favour.The court’s oversight body found in June he had committed a “serious breach of duty and serious misconduct” by engaging in an improper sexual relationship with a junior ICC staff member and seeking to stop her pursuing her complaint. (…)In a statement after the vote, the ICC “took note” of the decision of the Special Session of the Assembly of States Parties – the 125 member states which voted to remove Khan.”The Court will continue to attach the utmost importance to maintaining a safe, inclusive, and respectful working environment for all personnel,” the ICC statement said. (…)The misconduct investigation has put the institution under a glaring spotlight, intensified divisions inside it and played out alongside an unprecedented campaign to weaken, and in fact dismantle, the ICC in its entirety. (…)Khan, a prominent British lawyer, has been on voluntary leave to fight the allegations since May 2025. He remains suspended from practising law in the UK, after the Bar Standards Board imposed an interim ban while it conducts its own inquiry.
Khan’s warrant, which New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani cited as a justification to arrest the Israeli prime minister during his upcoming visit, may have been fueled by hostile Arab regimes. According to leaked documents, the government of Qatar promised to “look after” the disgraced prosecutor if he continued his witch hunt against the Israeli leader, The Wall Street Journal reported in April. This included a campaign to “discredit Mr. Khan’s alleged assault victim,” the newspaper added.
Despite Khan’s ouster, the ICC’s troubles are far from over. Last year, President Trump reinstated sanctions on the Europe-based tribunal. This reverses President Joe Biden’s move to ease restrictions on the court. Not just Israel, the ICC has also tried to go after U.S. service members serving abroad over alleged war crimes.
On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio vowed to dismantle the kangaroo court “brick by brick” for waging legal warfare against the U.S. “Using all the tools at our government’s disposal, working beside every ally with whom we can make common cause, we will dismantle the ICC—brick by brick, if necessary,” he declared.
This is one of the sharpest stances the U.S. has taken against the court. The British newspaper Guardian called it the Trump administration’s “most frightening move of all.”
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