{"id":303917,"date":"2026-07-23T17:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303917\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T17:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:28:12","slug":"fate-of-icc-chief-prosecutor-heads-to-unprecedented-vote-as-us-sanctions-keep-him-out-of-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/303917\/","title":{"rendered":"Fate of ICC chief prosecutor heads to unprecedented vote as US sanctions keep him out of New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE HAGUE \u2013 Diplomats from around the world are gathering at United Nations headquarters in New York on Friday to decide whether to permanently remove the embattled chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.<\/a><\/p>\n

British barrister Karim Khan has been accused of sexual misconduct with a female aide, as outlined by The Associated Press in a series of stories<\/a>, allegations which he has steadfastly denied. <\/p>\n

The saga has dragged on for more than two years and has had profound implications for the global tribunal, which is already under enormous pressure. Earlier this month, the United States, which has long criticized the court, announced a campaign<\/a> aimed at dismantling the 24-year-old institution.<\/p>\n

The 56-year-old Khan was formally removed from his duties<\/a> at the ICC in June after the executive committee of the court\u2019s oversight body found he had committed \u201cserious breach of duty and serious misconduct\u201d by engaging in a \u201csexual relationship … (that) escalated over time\u201d and tried to prevent the woman from pursuing her allegations, according to documents seen by The Associated Press. Khan disputes those findings.<\/p>\n

Khan faces an unprecedented removal vote<\/p>\n

Now his future lies in the hands of the 125 nations who make up the court’s oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, who are holding a special session in New York. It will culminate in a vote where a majority would need to support a resolution to oust him.<\/p>\n

Khan will not be present at the closed-door meeting, as he is barred from entering the United States after being sanctioned by the Trump administration<\/a> over the court\u2019s investigation into Israeli officials for the military’s conduct in the conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n

His lawyers have complained about his absence at the meeting. \u201cWe know of no court or tribunal in any proper and fair legal system that bars a person facing the gravest professional sanction from being heard,\u201d Tayab Ali and Sareta Ashraph wrote in a letter to the ASP seen by the AP.<\/p>\n

He goes into the vote banned from practicing law in his home country of the United Kingdom after being suspended by the British Bar Standards Board<\/a> pending their own investigation into the allegations against him. <\/p>\n

The outcome of the vote, which is secret, is unclear. The court\u2019s host state of the Netherlands will vote for his removal, the country\u2019s foreign minister Tom Berendsen wrote in a letter to parliament. The Netherlands is the only country to have publicly announced its position.<\/p>\n

The Gaza investigation complicates the case<\/p>\n

The allegations have become entwined with the court\u2019s investigation into the war in Gaza. \u201cPolitical considerations have been folded into this, especially as it is the first time a prosecutor has pursued warrants against a western ally,\u201d Iva Vukusic, a researcher at Utrecht University who has been following the process, told the AP. <\/p>\n

The court issued arrest warrants<\/a> in 2024 for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity. That decision sparked considerable backlash, including multiple rounds of sanctions<\/a> against Khan and other court staff by the Trump administration. <\/p>\n

A divided court faces an uncertain future<\/p>\n

The lengthy and complicated process has created huge divisions at the court at a time when the institution already is under tremendous strain. \u201cThere has been splintering over how the court has handled this,\u201d Lucy Gaynor, a historian of international criminal tribunals at the University of Amsterdam, told the AP.<\/p>\n

In April, a group of staff members within the prosecutor\u2019s office sent a letter to the oversight body expressing serious concerns about Khan\u2019s potential return, writing that his \u201cleadership has been materially diminished.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, a group of Palestinian organizations issued a public letter expressing concerns about the investigation, including accusing the executive committee of \u201cunwarranted political interference\u201d and \u201csubverting the disciplinary process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Should Khan be removed, his replacement will have to be elected later. His office is currently being run by his two deputy prosecutors. <\/p>\n

Vukusic said that regardless of the outcome, \u201cthe court is going to walk away bruised and battered and wounded and less able to face the greater threats.\u201d <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"THE HAGUE \u2013 Diplomats from around the world are gathering at United Nations headquarters in New York on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303918,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3895,153,113962,115204,9,11,10,115203,420,1076,114670],"class_list":["post-303917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-donald-trump","tag-karim-khan","tag-lucy-gaynor","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-tom-berendsen","tag-washington-news","tag-world-news","tag-yoav-gallant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303917","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303917"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303917\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303917"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303917"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303917"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}