ICC member states vote to continue disciplinary proceedings against chief prosecutor Khan

The International Criminal Court’s member states voted on Wednesday to move ahead with disciplinary proceedings against Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan following allegations of sexual assault, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials familiar with the vote.

A report by United Nations investigators, a summary of which the Journal said it had seen, found a “factual basis” for the allegations of sexual assault made by a female ‌aide ⁠and noted that witness accounts “lend support to her claims.”

However, a second report by three judges selected by the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties for a legal assessment of the U.N. probe found the evidence insufficient to establish the truth “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the report said.

The judges claimed the findings did not establish “misconduct or breach of duty under the relevant legal framework,” per their 85-page assessment.

A group of African states argued at Wednesday’s meeting that the disciplinary proceedings should end as the judges “exonerated” Khan. Yet other nations, including ⁠some of the court’s biggest backers, voted to continue proceedings, the Journal reported, citing unidentified officials.

Officials from the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor opposed Khan’s continued service as chief prosecutor in ⁠a letter read out at Wednesday’s meeting, the newspaper said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on Thursday night that “the reports that the ICC member states’ Bureau has decided to proceed with disciplinary proceedings against prosecutor Karim Khan over allegations of sexual assault prove what Israel has been saying all along.

“The proceedings in the corrupt and politicized International Criminal Court against the prime minister of Israel and the former defense minister are fabricated and baseless, engineered by a deceitful prosecutor who sought to divert attention from an investigation into his own sexual assault,” it continued.

“The ICC must immediately dismiss these proceedings,” the ministry added.

In November 2024, the ICC, at Khan’s behest, issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged Gaza war crimes.

In May 2025, Khan took a leave of absence pending the outcome of an investigation from the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services over allegations that he repeatedly assaulted a Malaysian colleague.

A second woman came forward in August, telling British newspaper The Guardian that Khan abused his power as a top ICC lawyer and subjected her to a “constant onslaught” of unwanted advances while she worked on an internship for him in 2009.

The sexual misconduct allegations claim that Khan asked the first woman, the Malaysian colleague, not to accuse him of sexual assault so he could issue the arrest warrant for Netanyahu.