Karim Ahmad Khan
KC
Karim Ahmad Khan in 2017
Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
Incumbent
Assumed office
16 June 2021
PresidentPiotr Hofmański
DeputyMame Mandiaye Niang and Nazhat Shameem
Preceded byFatou Bensouda
Personal details
Born
Karim Asad Ahmad Khan

(1970-03-30) 30 March 1970
Edinburgh, Scotland[1]
RelativesImran Ahmad Khan (brother)
Alma materKing's College London

Karim Asad Ahmad Khan KC (born 30 March 1970) is a British lawyer specialising in international criminal law and international human rights law, who has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2021.

After his appointment by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, he served as United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and acted as Special Advisor and Head of the United Nations Investigative Team[2] to promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL in Iraq (UNITAD), which was established in accordance with Security Council resolution 2379 (2017) to support national efforts to hold ISIL (Daesh) accountable for acts that may amount to war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity in Iraq.[3]

On 12 February 2021, Khan was elected the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).[4]

Education and early career

Educated at Silcoates School, Khan earned an LLB degree and AKC from King's College London.[5] He was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Lincoln's Inn in 1992. He later attended Wolfson College at Oxford University as a Doctoral candidate (D.Phil.) in law, although he did not complete the course and does not hold a Doctorate. Between 1993 and 1996 Khan was a Crown Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales,[6] as well as a Senior Crown Prosecutor in 1995.

International law career

From 1997, Khan worked as a Legal Officer at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) between 1997 and 1998. He later served as Legal Adviser at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) until 2000.[7]

Between 2006 and 2007, Khan was lead defence counsel to former President of Liberia Charles Taylor before the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).[8]

Khan spent several years engaged in leading cases at the International Criminal Court (ICC), International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). In 2008, he was appointed Lead Counsel to former Le Monde journalist Florence Hartmann, who had served as chief spokesperson to ICTY and ICTR prosecutor Carla del Ponte, when she was charged with contempt of court. Between 2008 and 2010, he was engaged as Lead Counsel before the ICC representing Sudanese rebel leader Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, the first ICC suspect to voluntarily surrender to the jurisdiction of the Court. In January 2011, he was instructed as Lead Counsel to represent Francis Muthaura before the ICC in relation to the post-election violence in 2007–2008. He later served as Lead Counsel for Deputy President of Kenya William Ruto before the ICC, and Lead Counsel for Deputy Prime Minister of Kosovo Fatmir Limaj before the EULEX Court in Kosovo from 2014 until 2017. He also served as the Lead Counsel for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Baghdadi Mahmudi at the ICC.

Khan represented a group of Anglophone human rights lawyers charged with terrorism and other offences before the Military Court in Yaoundé, Cameroon, as international counsel from February 2017 until September 2017. He led the team that advised Cham and Albanian communities in relation to their expulsion from Greece, and subsequent expropriation of property after the Second World War. He was lead counsel for a large victims case in Sierra Leone arising out of the ECOMOG intervention in 1999–2002, and he represented more than 100,000 victim claimants from the Kipsigi and Talai communities in Kenya seeking redress for alleged human rights violations committed during British colonial rule. Khan said that "Certain historical injustices need to be recognized ... It’s something that I feel very passionately about and it’s really worthwhile."[9]

Until June 2021, Khan was based in Baghdad, Iraq, and served as Special Adviser and Head of the Investigative Team for the United Nations Investigative Team for the Promotion of Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL in Iraq (UNITAD), established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2379 (2017).[10] Khan led the team in achieving its mandate in the collection, storage, and preservation of evidence related to crimes committed by Da'esh/ISIL; the promotion throughout the world of accountability for the crimes committed by Da'esh/ISIL; to work with survivors in recognition of their interest in the achievement of accountability for crimes to which they have been subjected; to respect the sovereignty of the Government of Iraq in performing this investigation.

Khan met with government, religious, and community leadership across Iraq as part of his mandate at UNITAD.[11][12][13]

In February 2021, Khan was elected chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on a nine-year term during the second round of voting, receiving votes from 72 out of 123 member states (62 needed). Khan was the third chief prosecutor elected in the ICC's history, and the first one elected by secret ballot. Khan had been nominated by the United Kingdom.[4][14] He took office in June 2021, replacing Fatou Bensouda.

Khan, European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Ukraine's Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova in the Hague, Netherlands, 22 July 2022

In September 2021, Khan resumed the investigation into crimes committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State in Khorassan in Afghanistan which had been suspended in 2020 at the request of the government of Kabul. He dropped the investigation into the war crimes in Afghanistan committed by international forces, including the US, in Afghanistan. He also dropped the investigation into the U.S.'s use of black sites in Poland, Romania and Lithuania in the early 2000's where kidnapped prisoners were interrogated and tortured for their alleged membership of the Taliban or Al-Qaida. Khan said the investigations were dropped because of the limited financial means of the ICC.[15]

In April 2022, Khan said of the war in Ukraine: "We have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed."[16] Eleven months later, he successfully applied for two arrest warrants alleging Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova violated two Rome Statute rules against systematic deportation, transfer and hostage-taking.[17] In response, Russia issued a warrant for Khan's arrest.[18]

During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Business Insider reported that a statement by Khan "appeared to suggest" that both Israel and Hamas could be prosecuted by the ICC.[19] According to Khan, the bar for evidence that a hospital, school, or place of worship is being used for military purposes is very high.[20] On 17 November 2023, Khan stated the ICC had received a joint request by South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, and Djibouti to investigate alleged Israeli war crimes.[21]

Other activities

Between 1996 and 1997, Khan was a member of staff at the Law Commission of England and Wales. He is a life member of the Human Rights Institute, International Bar Association (IBA), and a founding director of the Peace and Justice Initiative,[22] a Hague-based NGO focused on effective implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court at national levels.

Khan served until 2018 as a member of the executive council and the victims committee of the International Criminal Court Bar Association, and he was the president of the ICCBA from June 2017 to June 2018. At the end of his tenure, Khan was appointed the first honorary president of the ICCBA.[23] In July 2018, he was recognised as a worldwide ambassador of the African Bar Association.

Khan was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2011. He is a member of Temple Garden Chambers London.

Personal life

Khan’s father, a consultant dermatologist, was born in Mardan, Pakistan.[24] His mother, a state registered nurse, was born in the UK.[25] He was first married to Mirza Tahir' daughter Yasmin Rehman Mona whom he divorced. He recently has remarried outside his community. Dato' Shyamala Alagendra, a Malaysian lawyer is his second wife. He has two sons. He has a sister and two brothers,[24] one of whom is the former Conservative British MP and convicted sex offender Imran Ahmad Khan.[26] His brother mentioned being a member of the Ahmadiyya Community in his court hearing.[27]

References

  1. ↑ "British barrister to lead UN probe into ISIS crimes in Iraq". Rudaw. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
  2. ↑ "Mr. Karim Asad Ahmad Khan of the United Kingdom - Special Adviser of the Investigative Team established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2379 (2017) | United Nations Secretary-General". www.un.org. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  3. ↑ Michelle Nichols (August 23, 2018), U.N. team, approved a year ago, starts work on Islamic State crimes in Iraq Reuters. |access-date=2023-10-30
  4. 1 2 "British barrister Karim Khan elected ICC's new chief prosecutor". the Guardian. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 14 February 2023.
  5. ↑ "Khan, Karim Asad Ahmad, (born 30 March 1970), QC 2011; barrister; a Recorder, since 2018; Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court, since 2021." WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 1 Dec. 2011
  6. ↑ "The Crown Prosecution Service | The Crown Prosecution Service". www.cps.gov.uk.
  7. ↑ "ICC: New chief prosecutor divides opinions in Africa – DW – 06/15/2021". dw.com. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  8. ↑ "ICC: New chief prosecutor divides opinions in Africa – DW – 06/15/2021". dw.com. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
  9. ↑ "British lawyer shines light on 'dark shadows' of colonial evictions". Reuters. 30 May 2017.
  10. ↑ "S/RES/2379 : UN Documents : Security Council Report". www.securitycouncilreport.org. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  11. ↑ "Mr. Karim A.A. Khan QC, Special Adviser and Head of UNITAD meets with His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani". www.uniraq.org. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  12. ↑ "المجمع الفقهي العراقي" [Iraqi Fiqh Council]. www.facebook.com. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  13. ↑ "وفد من الأمم المتحدة يزور البطريركية" [A delegation from the United Nations visits the Patriarchate]. البطريركية الكلدانية (in Arabic). Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  14. ↑ "British human rights lawyer elected chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court". UN News. 12 February 2021. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  15. ↑ Stéphanie Maupas (28 September 2021). "The ICC prosecutor suspends the investigation into torture in secret CIA prisons". Le Monde. Retrieved 29 September 2021..
  16. ↑ "Crime scene' call Court". BBC News. 13 April 2022.
  17. ↑ Borger, Julian (13 March 2023). "ICC to issue first arrest warrants linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine". The Guardian. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  18. ↑ "Russia adds ICC prosecutor who sought Putin's arrest to wanted list". www.reuters.com. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  19. ↑ "Why Israel's push into Gaza is killing so many children". Business Insider. 31 October 2023.
  20. ↑ Khan, Karim (10 November 2023). "We are witnessing a pandemic of inhumanity: to halt the spread, we must cling to the law". The Guardian.
  21. ↑ "Israel is committing war crimes in Palestinian territories, five nations charge". Jerusalem Post. 17 November 2023.
  22. ↑ "PJI Directors - Peace and Justice Initiative". www.peaceandjusticeinitiative.org. 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
  23. ↑ "ICCBA-ABCPI | Welcome - Bienvenue". Archived from the original on 22 August 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
  24. 1 2 "Saeed Ahmad Khan Bernard Hugh Pentney Harry Munro Archibald Roger Cooper Francis Thomas ("Frank") Doleman Malvina ("Malca") Harris Muwaffak Abdul Hussain Andrew Waring Jowett Richard Baillie ("Dick") Laidlaw Frances Elizabeth O'Connor-Wilson (Nee O'Connor) Thomas Richardson Alfred Sands ("Alf") Rogen Thomas Edward Tasker Pauline Jane Watson". BMJ. 314 (7076): 308. 25 January 1997. doi:10.1136/bmj.314.7076.308.
  25. ↑ Rehan, Ehsan (1 June 2018). "British-Pakistani lawyer to lead UN investigation against ISIS". Rabwah Times. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  26. ↑ Gye, Hugo (18 June 2021). "Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan faces trial over claim he sexually assaulted a teenage boy". i (newspaper). Retrieved 11 April 2022.
  27. ↑ Media, P. A. (12 April 2022). "Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan tweeted in support of press freedom on day he tried to gag media in sex assault case". Press Gazette. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
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