The British chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan KC, 55, is facing a second allegation of sexual harassment, intensifying scrutiny over his conduct.
According to a report published by The Guardian, a woman who claims to have worked with Khan more than 15 years ago as an intern has accused him of groping her breasts with “prolonged” and “completely unconsented” caresses.
This development follows an independent investigation launched in November last year by court officials in The Hague into a separate allegation that Khan sexually harassed a younger female colleague. At the time, Khan denied any wrongdoing, stating:
“There is no truth to the claims. I have worked in diverse contexts for 30 years, and no such complaint has ever been lodged against me.”
The new allegation comes from a woman who said she felt compelled to speak out after reading reports of the first complaint, describing how it made her “heart sink”.
Alleged Incident During UN Tribunal Work
The woman, who was in her twenties at the time, claimed the incident took place in 2009 while she was interning for Khan. During that period, Khan was working on cases before a United Nations-backed tribunal investigating the Killing Fields in Cambodia.
Both women have alleged that Khan invited them to his home for work-related purposes, where he reportedly sat close to them, kissed and touched them, and allegedly attempted to persuade them to lie down with him.
The second complainant told The Guardian that she did not file a report at the time because she was at the beginning of her career.
“I was trying to figure out how to stay in his good graces and gain the work experience without sleeping with him,” she said.
She also alleged that Khan made explicit requests for sex, which she consistently refused, often giving “excuses” to avoid angering him.
ICC Prosecutor on Leave Amid Growing Scrutiny
Khan is currently on a leave of absence from his role as chief prosecutor at the ICC. Called to the Bar in 1992, he previously worked at the Crown Prosecution Service before joining the prosecutor’s offices for the international criminal tribunals on Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
In 2004, he switched to the defence side, notably representing former Liberian president Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
Since taking up his senior ICC role in 2021, Khan has made global headlines. In 2023, he issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine. Last year, he also issued warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
Legal Response
Khan’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment from The Times. However, the law firm Carter-Ruck told The Guardian that Khan “categorically denies” all allegations of wrongdoing, stating that he has “never harassed, mistreated, misused his position or engaged in any conduct that could be interpreted as coercive, exploitative or professionally inappropriate.”
