International court prosecutor who charged Netanyahu faces sexual misconduct accusation

Karim Ahmed Khan, International Criminal Court chief prosecutor, speaks during a news conference at the Ministry of Justice in the Khartoum, Sudan, Thursday, Aug. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Marwan Ali)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -

As the International Criminal Court's top prosecutor sought war crimes charges this year against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over actions in Gaza, he was engulfed in a very different personal crisis playing out behind the scenes.

Karim Khan faced accusations that he tried for more than a year to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her against her will. He's categorically denied the allegations, saying there was "no truth to suggestions of misconduct." Court officials have said they may have been made as part of an Israeli intelligence smear campaign.

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Two co-workers in whom the woman confided at the ICC's headquarters at The Hague reported the alleged misconduct in early May to the court's independent watchdog, which says it interviewed the woman and ended its inquiry after five days when she opted against filing a formal complaint. Khan himself was never questioned.

But the matter may not be over.

While the woman declined to comment to The Associated Press, people close to her say her initial reluctance was driven by distrust of the in-house watchdog and she has asked the body of member-states that oversees the ICC to launch an external probe. An ICC official with knowledge of the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity confirmed that the request remains under consideration.

Those efforts were applauded by those close to the woman, who still works at the court.

"This wasn't a one-time advance or an arm around the shoulder that could be subject to misinterpretation," one of the people told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity to shield the woman's identity. "It was a full-on, repeated pattern of conduct that was carried out over a long period of time."

While the court's watchdog could not determine wrongdoing, it nonetheless urged Khan in a memo to minimize contact with the woman to protect the rights of all involved and safeguard the court's integrity.

Within days of the watchdog's shelving of the case, the court's work went on. Khan on May 20 sought arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his defence minister and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges. A three-judge panel is now weighing that request.

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration said it was blindsided by the move, with the president calling the prosecution "outrageous" for implying an equivalence between Israel and Hamas.

In announcing the charges, Khan hinted that outside forces were waging a campaign to derail his investigation.

"I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately," Khan said, adding he wouldn't hesitate to use his authority to investigate anyone suspected of obstructing justice.

The allegations

AP pieced together details of the accusations through whistleblower documents shared with the court's independent watchdog and interviews with eight ICC officials and individuals close to the woman. All spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the allegations or fear of retaliation.

Among the allegations told to AP is that Khan noticed the woman working at another department at ICC and moved her into his office, a transfer that included a pay bump. Their time together allegedly increased after a private dinner in London where Khan took the woman's hand and complained about his marriage. She became a presence on official trips and meetings with dignitaries.

During one such trip, Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on a hotel bed and then "sexually touched her," according to the documents. Later, he came to her room at 3 a.m. and knocked on the door for 10 minutes.

Other allegedly nonconsensual behavior cited in the documents included locking the door of his office and sticking his hand in her pocket. He also allegedly asked her on several occasions to go on a vacation together.

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Upon returning to ICC's headquarters after one trip, she tearfully complained to two co-workers about Khan's behaviour and the anguish she felt for not standing up to a boss she once admired.

Those co-workers were shocked because Khan always seemed to show exemplary behaviour around women and has been outspoken against gender-based crimes. They also weighed the accusations against the backdrop of well-publicized attempts by intelligence agents from Israel and elsewhere to penetrate the court, which created a work environment plagued by intrigue and mistrust.

But in the wake of the #MeToo movement, no powerful man is above scrutiny, and the co-workers complied with court workplace guidelines that encouraged the reporting of misconduct by senior officials.

After months of inaction and whispered rumours of a brewing scandal, an anonymous account on X called @ICC--Leaks last week began bringing some of the allegations to light.

Israel's allies in the U.S. Congress have also seized on the would-be scandal. Sen. Lindsey Graham is seeking records about whether the misconduct accusations played any role in Khan's decision in May to cancel an aide's planned visit to Israel and move ahead with the war crimes charges.

"Another cloud -- a moral one -- hangs over prosecutor Khan's abrupt decision to abandon engagement with Israel and seek arrest warrants," the South Carolina Republican wrote in a letter to the court's oversight authority.

Khan, who is 54 and married with two children, said in a statement there was "no truth" to the accusations, and that in 30 years of scandal-free investigative work he always has stood with victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

Khan added that he would be willing, if asked, to co-operate with any inquiry, saying it is essential that any accusations "are thoroughly listened to, examined and subjected to a proper process."

Without naming any entity directly, he noted that both he and the court have been the target in recent months of "a wide range of attacks and threats," some also aimed at his wife and family. Khan's office declined to provide specifics because the incidents are under investigation.

A growing list of enemies

Under Khan, the ICC has become more assertive in combating crimes against humanity, war crimes and related atrocities. Along the way, it has added to a growing list of enemies.

Last September, following the opening of a probe into Russian atrocities in Ukraine, the court suffered a debilitating cyberattack that left staff unable to work for weeks. It also hired an intern who was later criminally charged in the U.S. with being a Russian spy.

Israel has also been waging its own influence campaign ever since the ICC recognized Palestine as a member and in 2015 opened a preliminary investigation into what the court referred to as "the situation in the State of Palestine."

London's The Guardian newspaper and several Israeli news outlets reported this summer that Israel's intelligence agencies for the past decade have allegedly targeted senior ICC staff, including putting Khan's predecessor under surveillance and showing up at her house with envelopes stuffed with cash to discredit her.

Netanyahu himself, in the days leading up to Khan's announcement of war crimes charges, called on the world's democracies " to use all the means at their disposal " to block the court from what he called an "outrage of historic proportions."

The Israeli foreign ministry referred AP's inquiries about the case to the Prime Minister's office, which did not respond. The U.S. State Department declined to discuss the matter but said in a statement that it "takes any allegation of sexual harassment seriously, and we would expect the court to do the same."

The Dutch foreign ministry and several lawmakers in the Netherlands have called for an investigation into whether the Israeli embassy has been conducting covert activities against the ICC.

Who is Khan?

Khan, a British international lawyer, had a long history defending some of the world's most ruthless strongmen -- including former Liberian president Charles Taylor and the son of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi -- before being elected in 2021 in a secret ballot to become chief prosecutor.

The Rome Statute that established the court took effect in 2002, with a mandate to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide -- but only when domestic courts fail to initiate their own investigations. Neither the U.S., Israel nor Russia are among the 124 member nations recognizing the court's authority, although their citizens can be charged with crimes committed in countries that are ICC members.

Still, Washington welcomed Khan's election, especially after he moved to "deprioritize" an investigation opened by his predecessor into abuses by U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan.

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Khan also broadened the court's focus, bringing criminal charges for the first time against individuals outside Africa. He charged Russian President Vladimir Putin for kidnapping children in Ukraine and opened an investigation into Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro for his crackdown on protesters.

"He is by far the most professional jurist the court has had in its short history," said Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch. "He's articulate, sophisticated with the media and has extensive courtroom experience working with the highest standards of evidence."

But Khan's reputation with the U.S. came crashing down when he announced he was seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and Israel's defense minister for war crimes including starvation of civilians.

To insulate himself from attacks that he held an anti-Israel bias, Khan, a practicing Muslim whose father migrated to the UK from Pakistan, shared the evidence with a panel of experts including British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, wife of actor George Clooney.

`Extreme fear' to report misconduct

Although the 900-employee ICC has long had a "zero-tolerance" policy on sexual harassment, an outside review of the court's inner-workings in 2020 found an unacceptable level of predatory behavior by male bosses, a lack of women in senior positions, and inadequate mechanisms for dealing with complaints and protecting whistleblowers.

"There is a general reluctance, if not extreme fear, among many staff to report any alleged act of misconduct or misbehavior" by a senior official, the review concluded. "The perception is that they are all immune."

Although the ICC's policies have been updated since the report, there's no explicit ban on romantic relationships like there is in many American workplaces. And while elected officials such as Khan are expected to show "high moral character," there's no definition of "serious misconduct" that would warrant removal.

International organizations, like the ICC, are some of the last places where men in positions of power treat the organization like their "playgrounds," said Sarah Martin, a gender equality expert who has consulted for several United Nations agencies.

"There are so many complaints that don't even get investigated because there's a perception that senior officials protect each other," she said.

People close to Khan's accuser say investigators from the court's watchdog -- known as the Independent Oversight Mechanism -- showed up for an interview on a Sunday and asked for intimate details about her relationship with Khan as her child listened. Without any emotional support and wary of the process, she decided not to file a complaint at that moment.

In the weeks since, she's decided to go up the chain of command, reaching out to the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which oversees the court and has the ultimate say about Khan's future.

Paivi Kaukoranta, a Finnish diplomat currently serving as president of that body, did not comment specifically when asked if it had initiated a new investigation.

But in a statement she asked people to respect the integrity and confidentiality of the process, "including any further possible steps as necessary."

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Goodman reported from Miami. Quell and Mike Corder in The Hague, Edith Lederer and Jim Mustian in New York, Matthew Lee in Washington and Jack Jeffery in Ramallah, West Bank, contributed.