Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who has obtained arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir V. Putin, will step down temporarily pending an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him, the court confirmed.
Mr. Khan, who has consistently denied accusations that he sexually harassed a colleague, communicated his decision to the court on Friday, its press office said.
He made headlines and spurred geopolitical backlash last year when he sought arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and other top Israeli and Hamas leaders, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 2021 he secured a warrant for Mr. Putin, the Russian president, for offenses in the war in Ukraine.
The sexual misconduct allegations against Mr. Khan, who is British, came to light last year. A British newspaper, The Daily Mail, reported in October that a female colleague had accused him of harassment. The Guardian later reported that Mr. Khan had tried to suppress the accuser’s claims.
Mr. Khan denied the allegations of both harassment and a cover-up and said on social media that he had asked for and would “cooperate fully” with an investigation. In November, the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, announced that it had commissioned an independent probe into the accusations “to ensure a fully independent, impartial and fair process.”
But over the past week, calls have ramped up for Mr. Khan to step aside as the investigation continues, thanks in part to a Wall Street Journal article about the inquiry. The article cited testimony to the U.N. officials, reporting that the woman in question has said that Mr. Khan forced her to have sexual intercourse. Mr. Khan, through his lawyers, again denied any misconduct.
The allegations first surfaced internally at the I.C.C. in May 2024. The court said later that it had not conducted an internal investigation, which would require the consent of the accuser, suggesting that she had not agreed to pursue it.
Days after the court shelved the matter in May, Mr. Khan made his request for Israel and Hamas arrest warrants.
The sequence of events has fueled claims and counterclaims suggesting political motivations. Days after Mr. Khan requested the warrants, The Guardian and two Israeli magazines reported that Israel had conducted a decadelong clandestine campaign to undermine and discredit the court.
Last October, Mr. Khan, in a statement denying misconduct, cited “a wide range of attacks and threats” against the court, but did not mention Israel specifically.
The recent Journal article fueled speculation, including in the Israeli media, that the allegation against Mr. Khan helped spur him to seek the arrest warrants when he did, which he has denied.
Those requested warrants were for Mr. Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister at the time but who has since left office, and three Hamas leaders for offenses during the war that was set off by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The court issued the warrants in November against the two Israelis and one Hamas leader. Two of the Hamas leaders had been killed by then, and it was later confirmed that the one for whom a warrant was issued was also dead.
The move against Mr. Netanyahu drew a rebuke from the United States, which has not adopted the statute that created the I.C.C. two decades ago. Israel also does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction, which means that Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant do not face arrest in their own country.
Mr. Khan, 55, has been the chief prosecutor since 2021. Previously, he as an assistant secretary-general of the United Nations, where he investigated crimes committed by the Islamic State.
Jeanna Smialek is the Brussels bureau chief for The Times.
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