Karim Khan’s time as a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court seems to have been defined by his investigation into Russia’s war in Ukraine. But, he recently told a friend, he realized his most lasting legacy would be forgery in the Middle East.
Khan’s announcement this week that the ICC was seeking arrest warrants against the leaders of both Israel and Hamas sent shockwaves across the region – the first time the Hague court has tried the leader of a Western-backed state. has followed.
Khan’s decision to target Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and act simultaneously against both warring parties sparked outrage in Israel. It has put the British barrister at the heart of a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, shocked Israel, devastated Gaza and sparked protests from Islamabad to New York.
“It’s huge,” said van Jordash KC, a barrister who focuses on international law advising the Palestinian Authority. “There will be no more. [the ICC] It should be considered a court that only goes after the weak. . . That’s definitely his legacy.”
Israel’s high-profile intervention in the Hamas conflict is a critical moment in the nearly 22-year history of the ICC, which was created to investigate genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
It is also important for Khan, who took on the ICC role in 2021 after a long career in domestic and international criminal law, where he served as both prosecutor and defender.
The 54-year-old, who was born in Edinburgh, has worked on cases at tribunals in the former Yugoslavia and post-genocide Rwanda. He was also defense counsel for former Liberian President Charles Taylor in the Special Court established after the Sierra Leone Civil War.
Colleagues point to the legal defense Khan mounted on behalf of Kenya’s William Ruto, now the country’s president, as a career-defining moment. Ruto’s prosecution, related to post-election violence in 2007, was dropped by a court in 2016 on grounds of insufficient evidence. The case was “landmark” for Khan and the ICC, according to a senior British barrister, who said it showed the body was not politically motivated against Africa, which it often faces. .
Indeed, when Khan took the top job as prosecutor in late 2020, he was portrayed as a modernizer of an institution that had been troubled for the first two decades. The court has been criticized for failing to secure sufficient convictions and for focusing too much on Africa.
Yet his elevation only came after a messy process that raised concerns about the ICC’s governance. He was excluded from the initial shortlist, but was recalled along with others who were longlisted after protests from member states. He eventually won against candidates from Ireland, Spain and Italy.
His innovations as prosecutor included appointing 17 “eminent experts” with “cultural, linguistic and gender diversity”, including human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, to serve as special adviser. Counselors were given portfolios that included crimes of aggression, gender-based harassment and genocide.
Khan, who has Pakistani heritage, was inspired to pursue a human rights career by the atrocities of the 1990s Balkan conflict after watching them on television, he told Council magazine in 2021. He began his career with the Crown Prosecution Service, the agency responsible for him. Criminal cases in England and Wales.
One barrister described him as “ruthless” and a “political animal” who would not hesitate to get his hands on other lawyers’ cases. The person said support for his appointment to the ICC came from politicians rather than the profession.
A national government official who has dealt with Khan called him a “great orator” and “brilliant reader” who has the legal skills to take on such a difficult case.
But the man also characterized the ICC prosecutor’s office as “closed like an oyster,” with Khan relying on a small group of trusted advisers.
A year before Khan became prosecutor, a highly critical independent expert review of the court rocked the ICC. Khan promised to improve what he described as a “depressing and disappointing picture” of a prosecutor’s office gripped by “bullying, low morale and a general toxic environment”.
Khan has made initial efforts to show that he is handling the incendiary Israel-Hamas case in a reasonable manner. The arrest warrant was announced with the release of a report by a panel of legal experts convened by him to offer assistance in his investigation.
Still, even some of his allies question his decision to target Israel’s leader.
Irwin Kotler, international head of the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights, who has worked with Khan, said the decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli and Hamas figures “is inconsistent with the overall interests of justice.” “. Kotler is representing the families of the Israeli hostages.
The court is already facing pressure from the United States, where President Joe Biden’s administration has threatened to work with Congress on possible sanctions against the court in response to its move against Israeli leaders.
The ICC did not make Khan available for an interview and declined to comment beyond publicly available information.
The biggest potential danger Khan faces will come if he fails to garner support from the countries — particularly in Europe — that created the ICC, and which would be subject to the execution of any arrest warrants. Will have to.
“If the state parties step back and leave him out on his own, what should he do?” asked the official. “All he has is his rhetorical ability . . . and the belief that he stands on the right side of history.
Additional reporting by Neri Zilber in Tel Aviv
