{"id":6568,"date":"2026-07-30T13:11:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:11:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/?p=6568"},"modified":"2026-07-30T14:50:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T12:50:32","slug":"karim-khan-dismissal-war-crimes-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jonathan-cook.net\/blog\/2026-07-30\/karim-khan-dismissal-war-crimes-court\/","title":{"rendered":"With Karim Khan’s dismissal, the elimination of the war crimes court is near-complete"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Millions of people around the globe will now find themselves even more exposed to the criminal actions of predatory states. Unlike Khan’s accuser, they are unlikely to ever get their day in court<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

The most important question we should be asking after Karim Khan\u2019s dismissal last week as chief prosecutor of the ICC \u2013 the international war crimes court in The Hague \u2013 is not whether he is guilty of \u201csexual misconduct\u201d against another staff member, identified as \u201cSarah\u201d.<\/p>\n

That can only be decided through a legal process \u2013 one, let us note, that has already taken place. A fact-finding body carried out a lengthy investigation of Sarah\u2019s allegations over more than a year; its thousands of pages of evidence were then evaluated in detail by three senior judges.<\/p>\n

Though you would not know it from the media coverage, they concluded that there was no evidence to suggest any kind of misconduct by Khan, sexual or otherwise.<\/p>\n

Strangely, that determination was largely confirmed by an extraordinarily deferential \u201cexclusive\u201d CNN interview<\/a> with Sarah, aired earlier this month.<\/p>\n

She declined to give any meaningful details of what Khan had allegedly subjected her to, and celebrity interviewer Christiane Amanpour delicately avoided pressing her for any clarification.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

No matter. The purpose of the CNN interview was never about excavating facts. It was designed to offer face-saving cover as an entirely political body called the Assembly of States Parties, comprising diplomatic representatives of the 125 states signed up to the ICC, entirely ignored the legal findings and dismissed<\/a> Khan.<\/p>\n

Paradoxically, it was the Assembly of States Parties that appointed the judges who had concluded that there was no evidence of misconduct or breach of duty by Khan. That inconvenient judgment was simply reversed, despite the Assembly members being in no position to weigh the evidence themselves.<\/p>\n

We should not forget that many of these states have an investment in weakening the only international court that can bring their own senior officials to trial for war crimes.<\/p>\n

In May 2024 \u2013 shortly before Sarah made her allegations \u2013 the ICC demonstrated that it was finally ready to prosecute western leaders for war crimes, not just those from the Global South or from the West\u2019s official enemies, such as Russia\u2019s Vladimir Putin.<\/p>\n

Khan issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant. Both are accused of crimes against humanity for starving the people of Gaza through a prolonged blockade of food, water and power.<\/p>\n

Were Netanyahu ever to face trial \u2013 and found guilty, as he almost certainly would be \u2013 a lot of other leaders would have good reason to fear they might be found culpable next, not least for their complicity in Israel\u2019s mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The question that needs answering now is not whether Khan is guilty of misconduct \u2013 that has been decided at a political level, not a legal one. No, we need an answer to an equally political, and far more troubling, question.<\/p>\n

\u201cCui bono?\u201d Or \u201cWho benefits?\u201d<\/p>\n

The evidence is hiding in plain sight. The evidence is revealed both in the deeply politicised process that led to Khan\u2019s downfall, and in what that process means for the future of the court.<\/p>\n

Covert war<\/h3>\n

Khan is not the first ICC chief prosecutor to face extreme pressures \u2013 and, as with Khan, those pressures surfaced at the very moment Khan\u2019s predecessor tried to take on Israel over its war crimes.<\/p>\n

Fatou Bensouda faced a \u201ccovert war\u201d waged against her by Israel for the best part of a decade, according to an investigation by the Guardian in May 2024, just as Khan issued his arrest warrant for Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

The Guardian\u2019s report<\/a>, published nearly three years after Bensouda had completed her nine-year term at the ICC, revealed that, during that time, she had faced threats to herself and her family, the monitoring of her communications, and an intimidating visit to her home.<\/p>\n

More recently, Bensouda has confirmed these accounts in an interview with Al Jazeera. Bensouda notes that she repeatedly reported Israel\u2019s campaign of intimidation to the Dutch authorities, but they did nothing to investigate the threats or protect her.<\/p>\n

She also says certain \u201cauthorities\u201d \u2013 she does not name them \u2013 warned her that she was going too far in investigating Israeli crimes and that \u201cyou could be harmed or you could be killed, or family members could be harmed in some way.\u201d<\/p>\n