Karim Khan built his reputation as the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor by going after some of the world's most powerful figures, securing arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and, in November 2024, against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the Gaza war. Now the man who pursued those cases is fighting to hold onto his own career.
On 14 July, Britain's Bar Standards Board upheld a suspension barring Khan, 56, from practising law in the United Kingdom while disciplinary proceedings continue. The board had already suspended him temporarily on 8 June, and Khan's appeal to lift that suspension was rejected after a hearing the following week. The allegations against him involve claims of non-consensual sexual contact with a female ICC aide, allegations that first surfaced through investigative reporting in 2024 and that a UN Office of Internal Oversight Services report later found credible evidence for, though a separate three-judge legal panel found that investigation not conclusive enough to settle the matter definitively.
Khan has consistently and firmly denied all wrongdoing, and his lawyers have pointed to that same independent judicial panel's finding as evidence the case against him is not as solid as his critics suggest, suggesting the timing is politically convenient given his pursuit of the Netanyahu warrant. That theory has some traction among ICC insiders. A diplomatic official told the Associated Press that a number of member countries believe the misconduct allegations are being used as a vehicle to derail the court's investigation into Israel, a claim that is impossible to fully verify but reflects just how tangled this case has become with broader geopolitics.
The ICC's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, is scheduled to vote on 24 July on whether to remove Khan from office permanently, a decision requiring 63 of 125 member states to support his ouster. Whatever happens, the court itself is already under significant strain, facing US sanctions tied to the Israel warrants and separate investigations involving American personnel, sanctions that have reportedly hampered a wide range of the court's ongoing work.
For an institution that exists to hold the powerful accountable, having its own chief prosecutor caught in a scandal this messy is not a good look, regardless of how the allegations are ultimately resolved. The allegations first became public through reporting by The Guardian in late 2024, which described claims of unwanted sexual touching and abuse over an extended period, including one especially disturbing detail involving unwanted physical contact during what was meant to be a routine work interaction. Khan temporarily stepped aside from his ICC duties in 2025 while a United Nations-led investigation ran its course, only to be formally removed from his duties again after the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties found evidence of serious misconduct this past June, a finding his legal team continues to dispute point by point.
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