THE ASP’S VOTE TO REMOVE ICC CHIEF PROSECUTOR KARIM KHAN IS A NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE
On 24 July 2026, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), which provides management oversight regarding the administration of the International Criminal Court, voted, by a majority, in a Special Session, to remove ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan from his elected office. The basis is allegations of sexual misconduct involving an employee in the Prosecution’s Office. Mr Khan has consistently denied all allegations. A panel of three international judges, convened by the ASP, unanimously concluded that the facts presented in the UN investigation and its underlying evidence did not establish misconduct or breach of duty under the relevant legal framework. The ASP rejected the Panel’s conclusion.
The ASP’s decision to remove ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan should be a tsunami to anyone who believes in the international tenets of due process and fairness, and independence of the Prosecutor, embodied in UN covenants, conventions and resolutions. Examples of the lack of fair hearing and due process include the ASP’s denial of Mr Khan’s request to address the ASP directly, and the ASP’s sudden procedural maneuvering on the vote, without notice to Mr Khan and his legal team, a very short time before the Special Session.
But what is most troubling about these procedural and human rights violations is that they were buttressed by the ASP’s lack of transparency. Leaks, innuendo and hearsay have clogged the media coverage – to fill the ASP’s void of no information. However, some journalists apparently have had access to the confidential UN reports.
This unprecedented removal decision goes far beyond workplace culture at the ICC: it is a political decision by the ASP to punish an ICC Chief Prosecutor for exercising his independence, which is enshrined in the Rome Statute, as well as the 1990 Guidelines on the Role of Prosectors, adopted by the 8th UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Khan was doing his job when he applied for arrest warrants for Israeli officials Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. For this – he has paid a high price.
But, the ICC and the very existence of international law are also paying a high price. The removal sends a clear and loud message to those who oppose the ICC. It says: the ASP will bend to political interference in the ICC’s decisions. This is the only logical conclusion in light of the ASP’s rejection of the Judges Panel’s finding of no wrongdoing by Mr Khan.
It is no secret that those who opposed the Israeli warrants have been involved in a campaign to stop any investigations and prosecutions of Israeli war crimes, for, at least, the last decade. Mr Guy Azriel, the diplomatic correspondent for i24News, on 24 July 2026, posted about Israel’s involvement on social media. Azriel was informed by a senior Israeli official that Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar “oversaw a dedicated task force and employed intensive diplomatic efforts aimed at securing Khan’s removal from office.”
Indeed, after the ASP decision, Sa’ar argued that the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant “should be revoked immediately.”
The ASP’s decision removes a key brick from the ICC – an independent Prosecutor. Objectively, the decision supports the US’s campaign of political interference with the ICC, which dates back to the late 90’s, at the Preparatory Commissions.
The IADL urges, as per the 1990 Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors, that the decision to remove Chief Prosecutor Khan be “subject to independent review.” The IADL suggests that an independent panel of international judges be convened to review whether Mr Khan received a fair hearing and whether his full due process rights were implemented during the disciplinary process.
28 July 2026