The Assembly of States Parties, the highest governing body of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has approved this Friday by a wide majority the dismissal of Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan due to a case of inappropriate sexual conduct, despite the British jurist rejecting the accusations against him.
"The Assembly of States Parties has voted in favor of dismissing Karim Khan from the position of prosecutor of the International Criminal Court," announced in a statement Tayab Ali, one of the lawyers representing Khan in the process, who said that the decision "lacks legal foundation."
The lawyer added that he "will challenge the legality and impartiality" of the resolution, adopted in a closed-door session and on which, for now, the court has not issued official confirmation. "The prosecutor of this court has been dismissed by executive vote while he was under sanctions and under immense political pressure," he said.
The British lawyer has repeatedly denied the accusations made by a staff member of the ICC at the headquarters in The Hague, which led in May 2025 to his temporary withdrawal from his duties while internal investigations were conducted.
The magistrate then stated that both he and the institution were victims "of a wide range of attacks and threats" for his judicial work, which includes the arrest warrants against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his recently former Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, as well as against three senior officials of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).
In February 2025, Khan was also subject to sanctions by the United States in response to actions directed against Israeli leaders, which resulted in the freezing of his assets and properties, as well as the prohibition of entry into the North American country for senior officials and employees of the ICC, extended also to their immediate family members.
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, stated this Friday on social media that Khan's case "has exposed the moral bankruptcy of a corrupt prosecutor who rushed to issue scandalous arrest warrants against the Prime Minister of Israel and his former Minister of Defense, in an attempt to divert attention from the serious misconduct he feared would be revealed."
"These were politicized and scandalous arrest orders against elected leaders of a democracy with an independent legal system that defends its citizens against terror. These orders, issued against a country that is not even a member of the ICC, should never have been requested in the first place and must be revoked immediately," he has pointed out.