Karim A.A. Khan Cleared!

Work will continue despite Israeli ops trying to stop it.

The International Criminal Court has rejected the findings that the United Nations special inquiry had brought to Karim A.A. Khan, the leading prosecutor in the war crimes charges against Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israelis tried to plant stories to depict the prosecutor as a sexual deviant to distract from his duty to hold Israel accountable for war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Qatar.

He will return to his duties once the ICC allows the prosecution to resume.

Khan announced the ICC's decision to apply for arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. In November 2024, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, along with Gallant and Deif. An arrest warrant against Myanmar military junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, was also requested the same month. Khan temporarily stepped down as chief prosecutor in May 2025 due to allegations of sexual misconduct.

In February 2025, the United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on Khan after U.S. President Donald J. Trump sanctioned ICC officials for issuing arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Make it make sense?

A criminal prosecutor is being sanctioned by the U.S. for holding politicians accountable for crimes against humanity. I find it wild that holding people accountable only results in punishment.

The U.S. is declining in credibility globally.

In February 2025, the United States Department of the Treasury added Khan to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List. As a result of this sanction, Khan, his wife, and his children are barred from entering the United States. Any assets he possesses in the US are frozen, and it is forbidden under U.S. law for any U.S. person or entity, as well as any foreign individual or company, including their subsidiaries, to provide him with funds, goods, or services. 

In May 2025, Microsoft blocked Karim Khan's access to his official email account, forcing Khan to switch to Proton Mail, an email provider based in Switzerland. This decision, directly tied to U.S. foreign policy, raised concerns over the dependence of Europe on US technology services.

Sexual misconduct allegations

In May 2024, the ICC began investigating sexual misconduct allegations against Khan by one of his assistants. The accuser, a Malaysian lawyer, said Khan began making sexual advances towards her in March 2023, shortly after joining his team. She alleged he forced her to engage in nonconsensual sex acts on several occasions, including intercourse in June and December 2023. According to The Wall Street Journal, Khan was informed of the allegations two and a half weeks before he announced the arrest warrants for Israeli leaders.

In October 2024, a whistleblower publicized the allegations. The accuser refused to explicitly confirm or deny them, and no formal inquiry was launched. Anonymous sources close to the accuser said she distrusted the ICC's watchdog, requested an external probe, and did not want to disrupt the Palestine investigation. ICC officials told The Wall Street Journal that she supported the arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and Khan's decision to pursue them discouraged her from coming forward.

In August 2025, another woman accused Khan of sexual misconduct. She alleged that while employed by him during his time as a lawyer, beginning in 2009, he repeatedly invited her to his home, sat in close proximity, attempted to kiss and touch her, and pressured her to engage in sexual relations.

Responses

Khan has denied the allegations. In a public statement in October 2024, he said: "This is a moment in which myself and the International Criminal Court are subject to a wide range of attacks and threats. In recent months my family including my wife and child have also been targeted." On a phone call, Khan allegedly tried to persuade the complainant to withdraw the claims, citing that the charges would hurt the Palestine investigation. After the allegations became public, Khan demoted at least four staffers in his office; five sources alleged to Reuters that he was retaliating against those who reported the allegations or criticized how he handled them.

Khan's opponents claim that the allegations compromised his judgement and influenced his decision to pursue the arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. Two weeks prior to allegations, Le Monde reported of a meeting between Khan and Nicholas Kaufman, in which Kaufman allegedly told Khan that if ICC arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant were not dropped, the ICC and he would be "destroyed", though the connection between the meeting and the allegations are not established.

In November 2025, Israel submitted a filing to the ICC asking that the arrest warrants be dismissed and Khan removed from the Palestine investigation, arguing that the allegations raised doubts of his impartiality. Khan and his supporters have suggested he is the victim of a smear campaign orchestrated by Israel to sabotage the ICC's investigation in Palestine. In August 2025, Middle East Eye (MEE) published a report in which it cast doubt on the first accuser's allegations. MEE wrote that she had sought Khan's assistance in filing a misconduct complaint against another ICC official during the period she alleged Khan abused her; an investigation found no wrongdoing on behalf of the individual. An ICC official told MEE that the allegations were leaked shortly before Khan intended to apply for more arrest warrants for Israeli leaders and surmised that Israel sought to force the ICC to withdraw the existing warrants.

Following a months-long investigation, The Guardian found no evidence that Israel was involved in the allegations against Khan, though pro-Israel actors helped publicise them.

An ICC official told The Guardian that Israel's supporters "may have exploited the story but they didn't create [it]". In November 2025, The Guardian reported that Qatar had hired private intelligence firms, including the London-based Highgate, to undermine the credibility of the allegations. According to The Guardian, the operation unsuccessfully attempted to find links between the first accuser and Israel. There is no evidence that Khan was involved, though his representatives met with those of Highgate. Highgate confirmed it had conducted an operation concerning the ICC but denied Qatari involvement, while Qatar dismissed the report as "unfounded".

Investigations

U.S. Congress members initiated an investigation in October 2024 to determine whether the allegations influenced the Israeli war crimes charges. In November 2024, the ICC governing body announced that Khan would face an external investigation into the claims. As a result of the investigation, Khan faced calls to step down from his position as chief prosecutor. In May 2025, Khan's office confirmed that he had temporarily stepped aside from his role and was on administrative leave until the investigation by the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services concluded. Khan's deputy prosecutors were placed in charge of managing the Office of the Prosecutor in his absence.

An independent panel of judges provided the ICC's governors with a report into the accusations this past March. Although the report was not made public, Khan's legal team said that it failed to find evidence of misconduct.