# ICC Orders External Investigation Into Allegations Against Prosecutor Karim Khan
*Event date: 2024-11-11*
By IO Digest Desk
The International Criminal Court said on November 11, 2024 that it will pursue an external investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, shifting the matter outside the court’s internal watchdog structure and intensifying scrutiny on one of the most consequential legal offices in international justice.
The decision was announced by the ICC’s governing body after earlier debate over whether the Independent Oversight Mechanism, the court’s internal watchdog, should handle the matter. Khan has denied the allegations. In a statement cited by the BBC, he said he had previously called for an investigation and would engage with the process while continuing in office.
The move toward an outside inquiry is notable because it addresses concerns about independence as much as substance. Paivi Kaukoranta, who heads the body overseeing the court, said the internal watchdog remained capable of acting but that the particular circumstances justified an exceptional external process in order to ensure a fully independent, impartial and fair investigation. That language suggests the court concluded procedural credibility was itself at stake.
According to the BBC, media reports had described a document alleging unwanted sexual touching and abuse. The report also said a female lawyer who made allegations had questioned whether the ICC’s internal oversight mechanism was competent to conduct the matter. The same reporting said Khan denied trying to persuade the woman to withdraw or deny allegations, an accusation that had added another layer of seriousness to the controversy.
The episode lands at a sensitive moment for the court. Khan and the ICC have been under extraordinary political pressure over the prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants tied to the war in Gaza. In May 2024, Khan said there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh bore criminal responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from the October 7 attack and the conflict that followed. A panel of judges was still considering those requests when the external investigation was announced.
That timing has made the allegations politically charged even as the BBC noted that the misconduct claims are understood to predate the warrant requests linked to Gaza. Khan himself drew attention to a broader climate of attacks and threats against both him and the institution, but the chronology reported by the BBC matters because it limits attempts to explain away the allegations as a reaction to one recent prosecutorial decision.
The ICC also said matters relevant to the investigation would be handled by deputy prosecutors who do not report to Khan, a step intended to preserve due process while he remains in his role. That arrangement reflects the practical difficulty of investigating the chief prosecutor without halting the court’s work entirely.
The significance of the decision is therefore institutional as well as personal. The ICC is trying to preserve confidence in its prosecutorial independence while showing it can subject its own leadership to credible scrutiny. Whether the external probe ultimately clears Khan or substantiates the allegations, the court has already acknowledged that internal assurances alone were not enough.
