The International Criminal Court in The Hague announced on Tuesday that deputy prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang would be taking over from ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan following the accusations of sexual misconduct against him.
In a statement published by the court, the two prosecutors stressed that they would ensure their office’s continuity “across all areas of work, and particularly in its mission to investigate and prosecute the most serious crimes with independence and impartiality.”
The ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor reaffirmed its “commitment to the continued effective implementation of its mandate to deliver justice for victims of Rome Statute crimes, across all situations and cases globally.”
Karim Khan has taken indefinite leave pending the outcome of a probe by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services about allegations that he repeatedly assaulted a Malaysian colleague while urging her not to pursue charges as they might hinder his war crimes case against Israeli leaders.
“Think about the Palestinian arrest warrants,” the chief prosecutor was cited as saying, according to his accuser. He has denied all allegations.
In May 2024, Khan announced that he would request arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity” in the Gaza Strip.
The Hague-based tribunal, which independently prosecutes the gravest crimes and is not part of the United Nations, issued the arrest warrants in November.
KHAN OUT, KHAN IN: ICC swaps one morally corrupt prosecutor with another. Karim Khan stepped down over allegations he raped his employee repeatedly—and indicted Israeli leaders to divert attention. Now Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Khan replaces him. But I saw how unethical she is: 🧵 pic.twitter.com/jz4Ny2lSZm
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) May 19, 2025
U.N. Watch, a Geneva-based NGO that monitors anti-Israel bias at the world body and other international organizations, denounced Nazhat Shameem Khan as “unethical” in a social media post on Monday.
In her previous capacity as president of the U.N. Human Rights Council, Khan repeatedly “violated freedom of speech to appease the world’s worst tyrannies,” the NGO stated, accusing her of being directly responsible for shielding Hamas terrorists working for the United Nations.
U.N. Watch noted that, as ICC deputy prosecutor, Khan met in The Hague with prominent anti-Israel activists—including Navi Pillay and Miloon Kothari—whom she had previously appointed to the U.N. Human Rights Council commission of inquiry targeting Israel.
A mere 19 days after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, Khan met in The Hague with top Palestine Liberation Organization official Riyad al-Malki to receive evidence of “Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people.”
Israel has denied that the ICC has jurisdiction to arrest or try its citizens because Jerusalem is not a party to the Rome Statute, the founding document that established the ICC in 2002.
The Associated Press reported last week that the ICC probe against the Jewish state’s leaders has ground to a halt in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order in February to sanction Khan and the court. Khan, who is British, has reportedly been frozen out of his U.K. bank accounts and lost all access to his work email accounts.
