ICC prosecutor who filed warrant for Netanyahu suspended from UK bar

Chief International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan suspended by the British bar over sexual misconduct claims

By World Israel News Staff

Karim Khan, the suspended chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, has been temporarily barred from practicing as a barrister in England and Wales, deepening the crisis surrounding the court’s top prosecutor as he fights sexual misconduct allegations and an effort by ICC member states to remove him from office.

Britain’s Bar Standards Board said Khan’s interim suspension took effect on June 19.

“Barrister Karim Khan has been suspended from practice by the Chair of the BSB’s Independent Decision-Making Body,” the regulator said in a notice on its website. “Under the BSB’s Enforcement Regulations, the interim suspension must now be considered by an Interim Suspension Panel at a hearing within the next four weeks.”

The British regulator did not detail the evidence behind its decision.

The move came less than two weeks after the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties, the ICC’s governing body, suspended Khan from his position at the Hague-based court and referred disciplinary proceedings against him to the full Assembly of States Parties.

Khan, 56, has denied wrongdoing.

His lawyers said after the ICC suspension that he “has consistently and unequivocally denied any wrongdoing,” adding: “Those denials stand.”

They called the ICC decision “unlawful, procedurally unfair and unsupported by evidence,” and said they would challenge it. In comments reported after the British bar action, his legal team said he “unequivocally denies all allegations of impropriety” and would take “all necessary steps to challenge the decision of the Bureau.”

Khan is accused of sexual misconduct involving a female ICC aide.

Reuters, citing a diplomatic source briefed on the ICC decision, reported that the court’s executive bureau found Khan had committed serious misconduct after an 18-month investigation into allegations of non-consensual sexual interactions with a lawyer in his office.

The ICC has not publicly released the underlying investigation materials.

In its June 8 notice, the Assembly of States Parties said the Bureau had decided to refer the matter to the Assembly “for consideration and decision” and that related documents would remain confidential.

The dispute has become one of the gravest internal crises in the ICC’s history. Khan, a British lawyer elected prosecutor in 2021, has overseen some of the court’s most politically charged cases, including investigations involving Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.

In 2024, Khan sought arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders over alleged crimes connected to the war in Gaza. The court later issued warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, a move Israel and the United States rejected.

Khan’s defenders have argued that the misconduct proceedings have unfolded in a highly politicized environment, while critics have said the allegations needed to be handled independently and transparently regardless of the cases his office was pursuing.

The US, which is not a member of the ICC, imposed sanctions on the court after its action against Israeli officials. In a February 2025 executive order, President Donald Trump said the ICC had engaged in “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”

The allegations against Khan first became public in 2024. He temporarily stepped aside from his duties in May 2025 while the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services conducted an external investigation. His deputy prosecutors have been managing the Office of the Prosecutor in his absence.

The Associated Press reported that the UN investigation found evidence of nonconsensual sexual contact, while a separate legal review by judges later found the evidence did not establish misconduct under a criminal-style “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard.

The conflicting assessments have contributed to a broader dispute over the standard that should apply in disciplinary proceedings against an elected ICC prosecutor.

The ICC’s member states are expected to take up Khan’s future at a special session on July 24.

Removing him would require a decision by the Assembly of States Parties, which includes 125 countries.

In Britain, an Interim Suspension Panel is due to review Khan’s bar suspension within four weeks.