ICC announces investigation into chief prosecutor Karim Khan

[Pelican Press 0]

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ICC announces investigation into chief prosecutor Karim Khan

The International ********* Court has announced an external investigation into accusations of ******* misconduct against its chief prosecutor.

Karim Khan said he would engage in the process and continue in his role while the investigation was ongoing. He denies the allegations.

The chief prosecutor had requested an investigation by the court’s watchdog, but on Monday the ICC’s governing body said it would pursue an “external investigation”.

The announcement followed media reports about a document outlining accusations against Mr Khan, understood to include unwanted ******* touching and “******”.

“I welcome the opportunity to engage in this process,” Mr Khan said in a statement, adding he would continue “all other functions as prosecutor” while the investigation is ongoing.

Any issues relevant to the investigation into allegations against him would be handled by deputy prosecutors, he said.

According to the Guardian newspaper, a female lawyer who claims to have been subjected to unwanted ******* advances by Mr Khan had raised concerns about the competence of the Independent Oversight Mechanism (IOM), the ICC’s watchdog.

The paper also reported that Khan responded to a formal ******* misconduct complaint against him by trying to persuade the alleged victim that she should deny the claims, despite having been advised to avoid one-to-one contact.

Mr Khan denied asking the woman to withdraw any allegations, the Guardian reported.

Paivi Kaukoranta, the president of the body charged with overseeing the court, last month said the IOM had been in contact with the alleged victim, but said it was not in a position to proceed with an investigation at that stage.

In a statement on Monday, she defended the IOM’s ability to carry out the investigation but said that “given the particular circumstances,” she did not object to “exceptionally resorting to an external investigation”.

“An external investigation is therefore being pursued in order to ensure a fully independent, impartial and fair process,” she said.

It comes amid intense scrutiny of the ICC and Mr Khan after the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants linked to the conflict in Gaza.

In May, Mr Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that

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for war ******* and ******* against humanity from the day of ******’s ******* on ******* on 7 October onwards.

Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh have all since been ******* by *******.

In an earlier statement, Mr Khan did not explicitly blame *******, but did juxtapose the ******* misconduct allegations and efforts to undermine his position when he described this as “a moment in which myself and the International ********* Court are subject to a wide range of attacks and threat”.

But the ******* misconduct allegations are understood to pre-date his request for arrest warrants linked to the conflict in Gaza.

A panel of three ICC judges is currently considering the arrest warrants requested by Mr Khan.

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