ICC prosecutor using Duterte to detract from sexual abuse allegations against him
THE International Criminal Court’s Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor handling the case against former president Rodrigo Duterte — who was kidnapped by Philippine police and delivered to a jail cell in The Hague on orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — is himself under investigation. He is facing allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse brought against him by one of his assistants. Khan has denied the accusation, and the ICC started an investigation into it in November last year, which is still ongoing.
This fact bolsters the theory made earlier in 2024 by the Wall Street Journal ina piece by its editorial board, that Khan’s move to arrest Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and the latter’s defense minister was an attempt at drama to “save his job as chief prosecutor after being confronted with sexual harassment allegations a few weeks earlier (in May 2023).” Khan’s intense persecution of Duterte is obviously of the same motivation.
An article in the respected British weekly The Spectator, that called Khan the “rogue prosecutor,” reads: “Khan rushed out his announcement (on the Netanyahu arrest) in May, to the great dissatisfaction of the professional team at the ICC. People inside the organization were annoyed by the manner of his announcement and the way in which he made himself a sort of ‘world policeman’ in an unprecedented self-promotional video.”
While the ICC officially is continuing its investigation, Khan’s move against Netanyahu backfired, after Israel, in contrast to Marcos, refused to deliver its leader to the ICC. Worse, this episode served to emphasize to the world the fundamental flaws of the ICC: It cannot trample on a nation’s sovereignty, and its investigations are toothless.
Worse though, US President Trump announced on February 6 that in reaction to the ICC moves against Israel, the US will “impose tangible and significant consequences on those responsible for the ICC’s transgressions, some of which may include the blocking of property and assets, as well as the suspension of entry into the United States of ICC officials, employees, and agents, as well as their immediate family members.” The very next day, Trump issued an executive order specifically barring Khan and his family from entering the US and all his properties, including bank accounts, were ordered frozen. He asked US allies to cooperate with his sanctions.
Theater
With Khan deprived of his theater of prosecuting the Israeli leaders, he sought another target: Duterte. Khan’s case load was full as chief prosecutor with its administrative work and handling over two dozen cases as either prosecutor or defense attorney. Yet he volunteered to handle the case against Duterte, and reportedly spent much of his resources on this case. Khan also had been criticized for focusing his energies prosecuting leaders from African states, bolstering criticisms that the ICC was merely a neocolonial tool. Duterte — if convicted by the ICC, with Khan as prosecutor — would have served to repair the ICC’s image and his prestige.
Khan pressured the two ICC’s Pre-Trial and Appeals chambers to issue an arrest warrant against Duterte. Likely told by the chamber judges that his evidence against Duterte were largely newspaper clippings, he asked the chamber to issue an arrest warrant against Duterte for 43 murders, even if the “witnesses” were admitted killers whose testimonies were solicited by promises of reward by the Marcos government.
The sexual misconduct and abuse allegations against Khan had been kept secret by the ICC since the victim — one of his staff — filed the case in May. It was revealed to the public only through a post in TikTok in October, with the ICC’s Independent Oversight Mechanism investigation starting next month.
The British press pounced on the issue of course because he was a British citizen (of Pakistani origin) handling one of the global institutions intended to pursue justice. Moreover, his brother, Imran Ahmad Khan, a former member of the British parliament was also accused of a sexual offense involving a 15-year-old boy in 2008. He was charged in June 2021; he denied the allegations. However, on April 11, 2022, he was found guilty of sexual assault and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was released in February 2023 after serving half of his sentence.
Respected British newspapers reported extensively on the accusations against Khan, and I find it surprising that we here had not known about it, even if he was already chief prosecutor against Duterte when the sexual abuse allegations were made. The Guardian in an October 24 article reported details of Khan’s sexual misconduct:
“Multiple sources familiar with the situation said she told colleagues she declined Khan’s alleged requests to disavow the claims. She believed the alleged approaches by Khan and another ICC official were part of an attempt to make her say that the claims against the prosecutor had been fabricated, the sources added.”
Document
According to a document seen by The Guardian, the accusations against Khan, 54, include “unwanted sexual touching and ‘abuse’ over an extended period. They include an alleged incident in which he is said to have ‘pressed his tongue’ into the woman’s ear. Khan denies such allegations of misconduct.”
Four ICC sources familiar with the allegations said they also include coercive sexual behavior and abuse of authority.
Multiple sources said misreporting about the allegations and efforts to politicize the situation have been deeply distressing for the woman, who is said to have initially held back on pursuing a complaint against Khan over concerns about reprisals and fears it could be exploited by Israel or opponents of the court.
Sources who know the alleged victim said she has been left traumatized by the situation and is “experiencing severe emotional distress.” “She never wanted any of this,” one person close to her said. “But the complaint filed against her wishes, followed by Khan’s denials and attempts to suppress the allegations, have forced her into a very difficult position.”
Another major UK newspaper, The Daily Mail, also reported that three of Khan’s highest-ranking colleagues, including American lawyer Brenda Hollis, pleaded with him to resign, but he refused. It quoted a source: “All the while [Mr. Khan] continues to walk around the court like nothing happened and refuses to take a leave of absence which would ensure an impartial investigation.”
Marcos will never live down, or be forgiven by the nation, for this abomination against a former respected president. Past presidents did plot to jail their predecessors, but they turned them over to local authorities to be imprisoned and tried by the country’s laws. Marcos turned Duterte over to a foreign institution we are not even part of, to be tried by foreign laws, helped by a self-styled “world policeman” who needed the Duterte case to divert the ICC’s member states from the sex-abuse allegations against him.
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ICC prosecutor using Duterte to detract from sexual abuse allegations against him
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