World
Karim Khan’s sex abuse accuser says ICC prosecutor exploited ‘power disparity’
A junior lawyer at the International Criminal Court on Thursday repeated her allegations that prosecutor Karim Khan had non-consensual sexual contact with her, in a CNN interview that was her first public media appearance.
Khan, 56, denies any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Sareta Ashraph, told CNN he denies “any form of sexual contact, relationship, consensual or non-consensual” with the alleged victim.
The woman, identified only as Sarah, would not comment on the ICC’s investigations into Khan, but told CNN he had shown escalating behavior of touching and groping her, recounting a time she said he touched her intimately while she was pretending to be asleep.
“There is no way for something to be consensual when you have such a power disparity,” Sarah, who said she is a Muslim who hails from Malaysia, told CNN. “What I think many people don’t understand is that Mr. Khan was not just my boss, he was everyone’s boss. And it cannot be consensual.”
Diplomats running the ICC’s oversight body have decided Khan did have an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior staff member and should be fired, according to documents seen by Reuters. The court’s 125 member states are set to vote on July 24 on a proposal to dismiss him for alleged sexual misconduct, after he was suspended last month.
Khan’s supporters claim that he became a political target for seeking arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli officials over the war in Gaza.
In the interview, Sarah denied online rumors that she worked for the Mossad spy agency, saying she underwent extensive security checks in order to be able to work closely with Khan and his predecessor.
“If ever there was even a hint of suspicion that I was a state agent of any kind, I would have been dismissed,” she said.
“I think many parties have for their own agenda conflated the two things,” Sarah told CNN of her allegations and the ICC’s probes of Israeli officials. “That conflation has only helped to distract and deflect from the validity of that complaint.”
Ahead of the July 24 vote by member states on Khan’s dismissal, the Dutch government, which hosts the ICC on its territory, said Thursday that it plans to vote for his removal.
In a letter to Dutch parliament signed jointly by the ministers of justice and foreign affairs, the government said it will follow the recommendation of officials from the court’s governing body that Khan should be dismissed because he committed serious misconduct.
“Although the balance of forces within the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) is still evolving, the view of most member states seems to align with the recommendation of the ASP bureau,” the letter added.
The ICC is dealing with a crisis as it has spent 18 months looking into the allegations against Khan while also facing US sanctions on many of its top officials over war crimes investigations that Washington says go against the interests of the United States and its ally Israel.
The Dutch decision could signal growing support among its members for Khan’s removal at a time when the court also faces an unprecedented US campaign to dismantle it, leaving the ICC’s future uncertain.
Earlier this week, US officials launched a diplomatic campaign aimed at dismantling the ICC. President Donald Trump and other US politicians have long said that the court should not have the authority to investigate or prosecute Americans, particularly members of the military.
On Monday, the administration said the court posed a threat to US sovereignty and pledged to expand sanctions, including travel bans for ICC staff, while increasing diplomatic pressure, drawing criticism from European allies.
The ICC declined to comment.
