Member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) voted on Friday to remove chief prosecutor Karim Khan from his role amid his sexual misconduct scandal, Reuters reported, citing two diplomatic sources.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the news agency that 82 of the court’s 125 member states voted in favor of the prosecutor’s removal.
Khan, a 56-year-old British barrister, faces allegations of misconduct involving a female staff member. He has consistently rejected the claims.
The controversy has unfolded over more than two years, destabilizing the international tribunal during a period of heightened external strain. Earlier this month, the United States, a long-standing critic of the tribunal, launched an initiative aimed at dismantling the 24-year-old judicial body.
Khan was suspended from his official responsibilities at the ICC in June after the executive committee of the court's oversight authority concluded he committed a “serious breach of duty and serious misconduct".
He entered the vote barred from practicing law in the United Kingdom following a suspension by the British Bar Standards Board, which is conducting its own inquiry into the matter.
In 2024, Khan spearheaded the ICC’s move to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of crimes against humanity. That action provoked intense international opposition and prompted the Trump administration to impose consecutive rounds of financial and travel sanctions against Khan and ICC personnel.
Israeli officials welcomed Khan’s dismissal. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, said, “Today at UN Headquarters, ICC member states voted to remove Prosecutor Karim Khan. Khan thought his political witch hunt against Israel and outrageous arrest warrants would distract from serious sexual misconduct allegations. He was wrong."
Addressing New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who is notorious for his own anti-Israel actions, Danon added, “Mayor Mamdani, take note: using Israel as a political weapon will not shield you from accountability."
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar also welcomed Khan’s removal and said, “The long-delayed removal of Karim Khan from the ICC for serious misconduct has exposed the moral bankruptcy of a corrupt Prosecutor who rushed to file scandalous arrest warrants against Israel’s PM and former DM, in an attempt to deflect from the serious misconduct he feared would be revealed."
Sa’ar added, “These were politicized and outrageous arrest warrants against elected leaders of a democracy with an independent legal system defending its citizens against terror. These warrants, issued against a country that is not even a member of the ICC, should never have been sought in the first place and should be revoked immediately."
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)