ICC’s Karim Khan: a prosecutor in a hurry to effect international law

Swift pursuit of arrest warrants against war leaders in Ukraine and now Gaza is a bold show of legal rule without fear or favour

The international criminal court’s Karim Khan has quickly made a reputation for himself as a formidable prosecutor.

In an international court that had a reputation for glacial slowness of process, he has moved rapidly against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, and now against Hamas and Israeli officials over the war in Gaza.

And while it had long been speculated, not least in comments from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, himself, that international criminal court arrest warrants might be imminent, Khan’s decision to apply to ICC judges to issue them marks a new and significant moment for the court.

Khan’s decision to seek the warrants, in such a highly politicised context, and in the face of opposition from the US (which is not a signatory to the ICC) and other western states, appears in line with his determination to persuade a sceptical global community – not least those in the global south – that the ICC will pursue alleged war criminals outside places such as African countries where so many of its cases have been focused.

That was made explicit in the ICC’s statement announcing it was seeking arrest warrants against both Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and three top Hamas officials, including Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.

“Let us today be clear on one core issue: if we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, if it is seen as being applied selectively, we will be creating the conditions for its collapse,” the statement said.

“In doing so, we will be loosening the remaining bonds that hold us together, the stabilising connections between all communities and individuals, the safety net to which all victims look in times of suffering. This is the true risk we face in this moment.”

Khan, 50, was appointed as the ICC prosecutor in 2021. In a secret ballot process, the Briton beat candidates from Ireland, Spain and Italy to win on a second round of voting with support from 72 nations – 10 more than the 62 needed.

Reading law at King’s College London, Khan demonstrated an early interest in international justice and human rights, something he has partly credited to his background of voluntary work with the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, a persecuted sect of Islam, of which he is a member.

The community moved its headquarters to the UK in the 1980s after the Pakistani government passed a law forbidding Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslims, and curbing their religious practices. Khan said his experience with them “helped me gravitate to this area [of human rights]”.

He was called to the bar in 1992 and cut his teeth with the Crown Prosecution Service. In his first published interview after becoming the ICC prosecutor, Khan told Counsel magazine that seeing the horrors of the Balkans war on television made him aspire to work at the international criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia, a goal he would realise.

He had not been on the original shortlist for the ICC role and was added partly at the insistence of the Kenyan government after acting as defence counsel for the Kenyan vice-president, William Ruto, when he was charged with crimes against humanity after post-election violence in 2007 that led to 1,200 people being killed.

Those charges were dropped in 2016 by the ICC after what was described as a “troubling incidence of witness interference and intolerable political meddling”. One key witness was killed in December 2014.

Before the ICC election, Khan addressed this in an open letter detailing how he did everything possible to prevent intimidation by ensuring the individual was put under witness protection, and then seeking an inquiry.

Speaking at the time of Khan’s appointment as ICC prosecutor, Philippe Sands KC, who has known Khan since teaching him international law at King’s, said his former student had had “an extremely impressive career as an advocate. He’s got huge experience and brings to that job real knowledge and experience of what it means to prepare, conduct and litigate an international criminal trial”.

His suitability for the ICC role was also questioned by some, given that he defended Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president who was convicted of war crimes at a special court for Sierra Leone.

Khan’s determination as a prosecutor to pursue alleged war crimes has led to him being placed on a wanted list by Russia, and more recently threatened by Republican senators in the US Congress over his pursuit of his investigations around Gaza.

That, in turn, led the ICC to issue a statement warning against attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence its officials.