ICC fails to do justice with Karim Khan

July 27, 2026

The Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court has voted to remove prosecutor Karim Khan. The vote came over sexual misconduct allegations. His legal team has confirmed the move and called it political.

The vote happened on Friday. It came at a time when the ICC faces heavy pressure from the United States and Israel. This pressure grew after Khan issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant in 2024. This timing raises serious questions.

Tayab Ali, head of Khan’s legal team, said a judicial panel had unanimously found no misconduct or breach of duty by Khan. Yet member states still voted him out. This decision does not follow the evidence. It does not follow the only judicial finding in the matter. That is unacceptable.

Khan was removed by an executive vote while under US sanctions and while the court itself sat under enormous political pressure. He was never given a fair chance to be heard. A process built this way cannot claim to deliver justice. It looks like punishment for doing his job.

Minute Mirror stands with Karim Khan on this point. An organisation meant to protect international law must not bend to pressure from powerful states. The ICC was built to hold leaders accountable, including leaders backed by strong allies. If prosecutors can be removed the moment they issue warrants against a protected ally, the court loses its purpose entirely.

The ICC has failed Karim Khan. It failed to protect its own official from a process that ignored its own judges. It failed to explain why political timing lined up so closely with the Netanyahu and Gallant warrants. Removing him does not erase those warrants, since only ICC judges can withdraw them. But it damages trust in the court at the exact moment the world needed that trust most.

Justice must never depend on who a defendant knows in Washington or Tel Aviv.