Prof. Anne Bayefsky: 'Karim Khan has taken the ICC's credibility down with him'

"Professor Anne Bayefsky, President of Human Rights Voices and Director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, spoke with Arutz Sheva - Israel National News about the suspension of International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan following a comprehensive inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment brought against him.

‘Karim Khan has been suspended from his prosecutorial post by the governmental oversight mechanism known as the Bureau of the ICC Assembly of States Parties (ASP),’ Professor Bayefsky said.

According to her, ‘The wild story of the world’s lead criminal prosecutor being a criminal himself is not just about one rotten apple. Diplomatic sources have leaked the ASP Bureau's decision. Evidently, UN investigators have described the excruciating details provided by the victim, which include allegations of rape, as 'non-consensual sexual interactions.' The entire ICC machine let the process to hold Khan to account drag on for two years after his misconduct was first reported.’

In addition, ‘ICC judges decided that Khan’s efforts to criminalize Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Gallant were not tainted by the clear evidence that Khan was trying desperately to use his attack on Israelis to save himself. Khan and his media and legal teams even went so far as to suggest that the Muslim victim - who was very supportive of his arrest warrant campaign against Israelis - was working for the Mossad.’

‘Khan has taken the credibility of the whole shameful ICC apparatus down with him. President Trump’s administration has largely failed to implement the President’s 2025 Executive Order on the ICC, sanctioning only a handful of ICC actors. It’s time to hold the whole deeply flawed and dangerous organization to account,’ she said.

According to an individual within diplomatic circles who was updated on the administrative action, the executive bureau of the court's governing body concluded that Khan committed serious misconduct. The finding concludes an 18-month investigation into the matter.

Khan has persistently maintained his innocence and denied all accusations. The tribunal's governing bureau is now prepared to distribute its final determinations to each of the 125 nations holding membership in the ICC, who will subsequently determine whether to permanently dismiss Khan from his post through an official vote, according to Reuters.

The Wall Street Journal reported last May that Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant within three weeks of the first accusations of sexual harassment against him, further fueling the accusations that the warrants were politically motivated.

While Khan stopped short of directly accusing Israel of being behind the allegations, his public denial mentioned that he and the ICC have been the targets of ‘a wide range of recent attacks and threats’ in recent months.

However, a months-long investigation by The Guardian found no evidence of Israeli or other foreign involvement in the core allegations against Khan."