82 of 125 members vote to remove Karim Khan, amid sexual assault allegation from ex-aide, but won't impact case against PM and Gallant, which can only be withdrawn by ICC judges The post ICC members vote to dismiss embattled prosecutor behind Netanyahu arrest warrant appeared first on The Times of Israel. United Nations – International Criminal Court member states voted Friday to dismiss prosecutor Karim Khan, diplomatic sources told AFP, following disputed allegations that he sexually assaulted a female member of his staff. Khan, 56, was suspended last month by a key governing body of the ICC ahead of the secret ballot in which 82 of 125 members voted to remove him, a motion that required an absolute majority.
According to the sources, only 13 states voted for Khan to stay in his post during the closed-door session at the UN headquarters in New York. A further 15 members abstained, while some did not attend the vote. In May 2025, Khan stepped back from his duties to fight the allegations made by one of his female colleagues after an inquiry was launched the previous year.
The alleged victim, a Malaysian lawyer who worked as Khan’s direct assistant, gave her account of what happened in an interview last week with CNN. The woman, who asked to be identified by her first name Sarah, described “an escalation of attempts” that resulted in physical assault. “There is no way for something to be consensual when you have such a power disparity,” she told CNN.
“What I think many people don’t understand is that Mr Khan was not just my boss, he was everyone’s boss.” Khan, who has been in the job since 2021, categorically denies the accusations. Speaking before the vote, Paivi Kaukoranta, head of the assembly that oversees the ICC, described the case as a “complex and sensitive disciplinary matter.” “I trust that I can count on your cooperation to ensure that the assembly can address the matter in a way that fully respects the privacy and rights of the persons involved, as well as the court as an institution,” she said. – ‘Credibility’ – In an open letter published this week on X, Khan’s attorneys called on ICC member states not to remove him, saying that no wrongdoing had been proven.
They also warned the vote could endanger the independence of future prosecutors, an apparent reference to Khan’s headline-grabbing cases. In 2024, he successfully applied for arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant over the Gaza war. The ICC, which is based in The Hague, also issued warrants for the arrest of several key leaders of Hamas, who have since been killed.
Khan was the target of US sanctions over the warrants for …
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