The International Criminal Court will launch an external investigation into sexual-misconduct accusations against its top prosecutor, Karim Khan, the court in The Hague confirmed on Monday.
“After having consulted the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), I am seeking on behalf of the ASP Presidency an external investigation into the matters related to alleged misconduct by the ICC prosecutor,” Päivi Kaukoranta, the president of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which oversees the top court, said in a statement on Monday. “The involved parties have been informed.”
“The Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM), which exercises full operational independence from the International Criminal Court and reports directly to the ASP, is competent to investigate such allegations,” stated Kaukoranta.
The external probe is “being pursued in order to ensure a fully independent, impartial and fair process, in conformity with the legal framework of the ICC and the IOM, and following a victim-centred approach,” he added.
The outsourced probe was green-lit last week at a meeting of the internal ICC watchdog, three sources acquainted with the matter told the Associated Press on Saturday.
The sources said at the time that it was unclear who would lead the investigation. Options included European law-enforcement officials and a law firm.
The oversight body of the ICC was also mentioned as a possibility, but it might be ruled out for conflict-of-interest concerns over Karim’s spouse, who has previously worked for the agency in Kenya probing cases of sexual harassment.
The allegations against Khan emerged in May, around the time he asked the court to file arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The top prosecutor denied that he tried to force a female assistant into a sexual relationship, with ICC officials close to Khan claiming that the accusations were part of a smear campaign carried out by Israeli intelligence agencies.
Khan said that there was “no truth to suggestions of misconduct” and that he has always supported victims of sexual harassment and abuse in his 30 years of work. He added that, if asked, he would cooperate with any inquiry.
However, reports in the media depicted recurring incidents in which Khan tried to force himself on his aide.
One source told AP, “This wasn’t a one-time advance or an arm around the shoulder that could be subject to misinterpretation. It was a full-on, repeated pattern of conduct that was carried out over a long period of time.”
AP obtained documents shared with the ICC’s watchdog and held talks with eight individuals familiar with the subject, including sources close to the woman concerned.
According to the documents, Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her.” Later, he knocked on her hotel door for 10 minutes at 3 a.m.
In October, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) requested “full transparency” from the ICC with regard to the allegations of misconduct by its chief prosecutor.
“Public reports indicate that allegations of harassment surfaced in early May—just a few days before Prosecutor Khan applied for arrest warrants against the prime minister and minister of defense of Israel,” Graham said in a letter to the ICC last week. “The timing of the allegations is troubling, and only compounds the other strong legal, jurisdictional, and prudential objections I have expressed regarding the prosecutor’s decision to seek arrest warrants.”
In May, Khan demanded the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes. He lumped the two Israelis together with then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif and Hamas politburo head Ismail Haniyeh. (All three were eliminated by Israel in the past year.)
The ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel, as Jerusalem is not a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the court. However, the court claimed jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, even though no such state exists under international law.
