ICC votes to dismiss Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan

2026-07-25 09:04:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Member states of the International Criminal Court voted to remove Karim Khan from his post as chief prosecutor, following allegations of sexual misconduct.

British lawyer Khan was accused of sexual misconduct against an assistant, charges he has consistently denied. He was temporarily suspended from his duties at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in June after a report by the court's executive committee, the court's oversight body, found he had committed "serious breaches of professional ethics."

82 of the court's 125 member states voted in favor of Khan's removal, 13 voted against, and 15 states abstained.

Karim Khan, 56, attracted international attention in 2024 when he requested the issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over the war in Gaza, as well as several senior leaders of the militant group Hamas, who have since been killed.

Karim Khani stated that the charges against him were part of a conspiracy against him, in retaliation for the fact that he had conducted investigations into representatives of the Israeli government.

A United Nations commission investigated these allegations and submitted a report in December 2025, which has not yet been made public. Based on the results of this investigation, the International Criminal Court also prepared a legal opinion, a document that has also not been published.

All active ICC arrest warrants will continue to remain in effect despite Khan's dismissal, as only judges of the International Criminal Court have the authority to withdraw or cancel them.

Reactions to the discharge

Khan's lawyer, Tayab Ali, stated that his client will challenge the dismissal through legal means.

"Mr. Khan will challenge the legality and fairness of this decision, using all legal mechanisms available," Ali wrote in a post on the X platform.

Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, currently a visiting professor at Princeton University, wrote on the X platform that member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) "did the right thing" by dismissing Khan.

Israel's UN ambassador, Danny Danon, criticized Khan's actions in a statement published on the X platform: "Khan thought his political witch hunt against Israel and his unacceptable arrest warrants would distract from serious allegations of sexual misconduct," Danon wrote. "He was wrong."/ DW