Former ICC judges slam sexual misconduct investigation into chief prosecutor
Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant in May 2024, accusing them of crimes against humanity.
The ICC official had also previously secured a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children. Neither Russia nor Israel recognizes the ICC's jurisdiction. Moscow has condemned the court's accusations as 'outrageous' and stressed that its decisions are legally 'null and void for Russia.'
While the warrant for Putin was welcomed by Kiev's Western backers – including the US, despite Washington's own non-recognition of the court – the Netanyahu case prompted a backlash.
The US imposed sanctions on Khan and four ICC judges, calling the charges politically motivated and warning of further punitive steps.
Shortly after the Israeli warrants were issued, allegations of sexual misconduct against Khan surfaced. Former ICC judge Cuno Tarfusser told Middle East Eye he was 'deeply disturbed, even scandalized,' by the proceedings, claiming the investigation appeared 'tailored' for Khan. Another former judge warned the process had entered 'bandit country' where 'anything can happen.'
The court's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, drew further scrutiny for publicly naming Khan and outsourcing the investigation to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services, even though the ICC's own mechanism had previously closed two internal probes after the complainant declined to cooperate.
As noted by MEE, the original complaint was made as Khan prepared the Israeli warrants. The allegations re-emerged months later just before the warrants were announced, and escalated in May 2025 as Khan reportedly pursued further charges against Israeli officials.
Le Monde has also reported that British lawyer Andrew Cayley, who led the ICC's Palestine investigation, had been warned by Dutch intelligence that he was 'an enemy of Israel' and later advised by the UK Foreign Office that he could face US sanctions. He subsequently resigned.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Russia Today
6 minutes ago
- Russia Today
Timing of case against ICC chief prosecutor is highly suspicious
The International Criminal Court's (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, was slapped with sexual assault allegations shortly before seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, raising suspicions about the timing of the accusations, columnist Rachel Marsden has told RT. Before officially seeking the warrants, Khan reportedly informed London about his plans, only to face threats from then Foreign Secretary David Cameron that the UK would bail out of the ICC altogether if he proceeded with his plan, Marsden noted. In April of 2024, roughly a month before the prosecutor officially sought the arrest warrants, a staffer at the ICC accused him of chronically sexually assaulting her. She complained to Thomas Lynch – an American lawyer and a close adviser at the ICC – who then alerted some internal oversight bodies within the ICC. The US, which has never recognized the ICC's mandate, opposed the issuance of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant from the very beginning and repeatedly threatened Khan with sanctions. Washington eventually imposed the restrictions on the court, some of its judges, and Khan personally. The ICC closed two internal probes against Khan after the complainant declined to cooperate. The RT contributor recalled that a note about the alleged sex assault case was then leaked to the media in October of 2024, just days before the court officially issued the arrest warrants in November of 2024. The court's oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties, then publicly named Khan as a suspect in the sex assault case and outsourced the investigation to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services – something the former ICC judges have called 'completely outside of protocol that they're aware of,' as well as 'plain strange,' according to the columnist. Khan appears to be either suffering from the worst timing possible or is 'being taken out with a plot line so obvious that it wouldn't make the first draft of a Netflix political thriller,' Marsden said. Watch the full commentary below.
Russia Today
6 hours ago
- Russia Today
Moscow comments on collapse of arms control treaty with US
Russia has the right to deploy ground-based intermediate-range missiles 'when deemed necessary,' following the collapse of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty with the US, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Moscow had previously opted not to station such weapons in certain regions unless the US and its allies did so first. On Monday, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the 'actions of Western countries' had made Moscow's adherence to the moratorium no longer viable as they were creating a 'direct threat' to Russia's security. When asked by journalists to comment on Tuesday, Peskov said Russia 'no longer has any limitations in this regard' and 'no longer considers itself bound by anything.' Moscow reserves the right to deploy such missiles 'when deemed necessary,' he added. The Kremlin spokesman did not elaborate on whether decisions on potential missile deployments had already been taken. 'One can hardly expect any announcements here,' Peskov said, describing it as a question of national defense and 'a sensitive and secretive field.' The INF Treaty between the US and the USSR banned ground-launched missiles with ranges of 500-5,500km. It collapsed in 2019 when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the agreement during Donald Trump's first presidential term. The US justified the move by citing alleged Russian violations. Moscow has vehemently denied the claims, accusing the US itself of developing banned missiles. Russia subsequently called on NATO and the US to exercise restraint and refrain from deploying such systems as it announced its own moratorium on their deployment. Last year, Moscow warned it could lift the moratorium after the US announced plans to deploy long-range weapons in Germany in 2026. On Monday, the Foreign Ministry also cited the deployment of a Typhon missile launcher in the Philippines by the US last year as one of the reasons behind the policy change.
Russia Today
6 hours ago
- Russia Today
Kremlin assesses US ‘threats' to Russia's trade partners
US threats to impose secondary sanctions on Russia's trading partners are illegal and a breach of other nations' sovereign rights, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. Washington recently warned India, China, and Brazil of potential restrictions over their imports of Russian energy. Matthew Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, called such measures an 'obvious next step' to end the Ukraine conflict. Responding at a press briefing on Tuesday, Peskov said: 'We hear many statements that are essentially threats and attempts to pressure countries into cutting trade relations with Russia.' 'We believe that sovereign states should have, and do have, the right to choose their own trade partners, partners for economic cooperation, and to independently determine the forms of cooperation that serve their national interests,' he added. In an interview with Bloomberg on Monday, Whitaker claimed that purchasing Russian oil amounts to sponsoring hostilities in the Ukraine conflict. He asserted that introducing sanctions on importers would cut off Moscow's main source of revenue. India, one of the largest importers of Russian crude alongside China, responded that it would 'safeguard its national interests and economic security,' calling the idea of targeting the country over energy purchases 'unjustified and unreasonable.' New Delhi has also pointed to ongoing Western trade with Russia, despite repeated pledges to sever economic ties. Beijing likewise defended its economic cooperation with Russia, stating that China will 'always ensure its energy supply in ways that serve our national interests.' 'China will firmly defend its sovereignty, security, and development interests,' the Foreign Ministry said on Monday, adding that 'coercion and pressure will not achieve anything.' In July, Brazil condemned similar remarks by NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte about potential secondary sanctions on BRICS nations trading with Russia, calling them 'totally absurd.' All three countries also highlighted what they described as Western hypocrisy toward importers of Russian energy, noting that both the US and the EU have maintained trade relations with Moscow.
