ICC prosecutor Karim Khan suspended by Britain’s legal regulator

Karim Khan was suspended immediately by Britain’s Bar Standards Board, adding a second layer of discipline to a court chief already sidelined by his own institution and widening the leadership crisis at the International Criminal Court. The move left the ICC’s top prosecutor under pressure from both the regulator that oversees court lawyers and the body he leads, just as the tribunal confronts some of its most politically charged cases.

The ICC’s Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties had already suspended Khan from duty on June 8 by qualified majority and sent the disciplinary proceedings to the full Assembly for a final decision. The Assembly is the court’s management oversight and legislative body, and its 125 member states each hold one vote. A special session on Khan is scheduled for July 24 in New York, where the member states are expected to decide how the court will proceed.

Khan has denied allegations of sexual misconduct, but a confidential 18-month inquiry produced a factual basis for the claims made by a female aide, according to the summary described in the reporting. The Bar Standards Board said its interim suspension takes effect immediately and must be considered by an Interim Suspension Panel within four weeks, adding urgency to a case that has already forced the ICC to operate without its elected prosecutor.

Khan went on voluntary leave in May 2025, and his deputies, Nazhat Shameem Khan and Mame Mandiaye Niang, have been handling the leadership, management and administration of the Office of the Prosecutor since then. That arrangement has kept the office functioning, but it also underscores how much institutional weight rests on a leadership structure now stretched by internal discipline, public scrutiny and unresolved allegations.

The stakes extend far beyond one official. Khan publicly announced on May 20, 2024, that his office had submitted applications for arrest warrants in the Situation in the State of Palestine, a move that intensified confrontation with the United States and other powerful states. Washington imposed sanctions on ICC officials in 2025 over the court’s actions involving Israel and U.S. interests, including warrants sought for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, and Khan’s supporters say he has been turned into a political target. For a court built to prove that individuals can be held accountable for atrocities, a prolonged vacuum at the top threatens not only the pace of investigations but the credibility of the institution itself.