Karim Khan | Pakistan

THE HAGUE: Member states of the International Criminal Court voted on Friday to dismiss Karim Khan as prosecutor following allegations of sexual misconduct. Eighty-two of the court’s 125 member states voted in favour of the prosecutor’s removal. Khan, 56, denies any wrongdoing and his lawyer said he will challenge his dismissal. “Mr Khan will challenge the lawfulness and fairness of the decision through all available legal mechanisms,” lawyer Tayab Ali wrote on X. Khan’s dismissal follows an announcement by the United States that it will launch a renewed diplomatic campaign to dismantle the ICC, which it says is a threat to its sovereignty. Diplomats running the court’s oversight body decided last month that the British barrister had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior ICC lawyer and should be fired. Member states largely followed that conclusion in a vote at the United Nations in New York on Friday. During a visit to the Philippines on Thursday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said there wer...

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) 125 member states convened on Friday to determine the fate of prosecutor Karim Khan, who was suspended over allegations of sexual assault against a member of his staff — accusations he firmly denies. In May 2025, Khan had 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 56-year-old Briton was suspended last month by a key governing body of the ICC, the 21-member bureau of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), which called Friday’s meeting at UN headquarters in New York. At that time, the bureau said the suspension was “not an indication of the final outcome” in the matter. The decision on whether to relieve Khan of his duties is now subject to a secret ballot by the 125 countries party to the International Criminal Court during a closed-door session. An absolute majority carries the vote. Paivi Kaukoranta, head of the assembly that oversees the ICC, described the case as a “...