Member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) voted on Friday by a majority to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan over misconduct claims, during a special session at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
According to diplomatic sources, 82 out of the court’s 125 members voted by a secret ballot to dismiss the prosecutor, surpassing the absolute majority threshold (63) needed for removal.
Thirteen voted against removal, while 15 abstained.
It is the first time in the ICC’s 24-year history that member states have voted to remove a sitting chief prosecutor from office.
Friday’s vote comes shortly following extraordinary threats by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Washington would “dismantle the ICC - brick by brick, if necessary,” while most of the court’s judges and prosecutors, including Khan, have been sanctioned by the US over their work on the Palestine and Afghanistan war crimes investigations.
The disciplinary process against Khan emerged in the wake of his decision to seek arrest warrants over two years ago for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders, over alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza since October 2023.
If the Us/Israel can force this, there is zero neutrality in the ICC and they might as well go ahead and dismantle it.
He was removed due to sexual harassment allegations
That were raised weeks after starting to issue warrants for Netanyahus arrest.
The vote also comes amid questions and criticism about the ASP Bureau’s handling of the investigation, particularly over concerns that the process has been “politicised” after the opinion of the judges’ panel, which unanimously found that no wrongdoing had been established, was disregarded by bureau member states.
And
In a report seen by MEE, the panel concluded unanimously that the facts presented in the UN investigation “do not establish misconduct or breach of duty under the relevant framework”.
But a few weeks after the judges’ panel report, a majority of bureau members backed a motion to disregard it, suggesting that Khan may have committed misconduct. The vote prompted concerns that the process could be politicised
They also changed the process to make it easier to remove him, and disregarded the jusges results.
Sure. Totally.
Exactly
Americans… the world doesn’t hate you because of your FrEEdumBs… the world hates you because your government keeps doing stuff like this while you keep pretending YOU are the victims
I am a victim. Of my government. #blinkblink send help
in that case I hope you are taking steps to change that and wish you luck
Now that it becom trump puppet, i agree the icc should be dismentled
