ICC Chief Prosecutor tagged in sex scandal

KARIM Ahmad Khan, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to whom a minority group of Filipinos are calling for direct intervention in their lust to prosecute former president, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, is accused of trying to cover up a sexual harassment case filed against him by one of his staff.

A report by ‘The Guardian’ last October 29, said Khan, 54, married, with two children, was not only charged of sexual harassment but also, coercion and abuse of power.

A separate investigation by the Associated Press (AP) said that for more than a year after Khan got his victim transferred to his office from another department that includes a pay increase, Khan had been trying to seduce the unnamed victim to have sex with him

“This wasn’t a one-time advance or an arm around the shoulder that could be subject to misinterpretation,” one of the people told AP, speaking on condition of anonymity to shield the woman’s identity. “It was a full-on, repeated pattern of conduct that was carried out over a long period of time.”

Two women colleagues of the victim brought the incident to the attention of the ICC’s ‘Independent Oversight Mechanism’ in early May but the case against Khan was not pursued after the woman declined to file any charges.

Since then, however, the woman elevated her complaint to the ‘Assembly of States to the Rome Statutes,’ which would have the ultimate decision on the fate of Khan. The assembly comprised the member-states that approved the Rome Statute creating the ICC in 1998 and which came into force in 2002.

As expected, Khan denied the accusation claiming it was part of Israel’s campaign to discredit him and the ICC.

The ICC last May 20 submitted an application for the issuance of an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israel Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and the 3 leaders of the ‘Hamas,’ Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri and, Ismail Haniyeh. The submission refers to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza that begun in full throttle last October 7, 2023 and is yet to stop since then.

The call for the issuance of an arrest warrant against Netanyahu and Gallant not only outraged Israel, but also, the United States, which both immediately vilified the ICC. Both countries are not a party to the Rome Statute while the members of the ICC are yet to the decide on the application up to now.

ICC, Khan are discredited internationally

This is not the first time that Khan was accused of issuing a decision in exchange for a favor and the ICC accused to kowtowing to the wishes of the West, making it a discredited international institution.

On February 22, 2023, Khan applied for the issuance of an arrest warrant against President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights under Putin’s office.

Khan wants Putin and Belova tried by the ICC as they allegedly “bear criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” contrary to the Rome Statue.

Aside from not being asked to first shed light on the accusation of Ukraine and its Western backers, Russia, like the United States, Philippines and China, is not a member of the ICC.

In less than a month, the ICC, on March 17, 2023, promptly issued the warrant of arrest against Putin and Belova even as the assembly continues to defer the issuance of a warrant against Netanyahu and Galllant.

It later turned out that days before calling for the warrant against Putin, Khan had a secret deal with British authority for the release of his brother in prison for pedophilia.

A post on X (formerly Twitter) last March 18, 2023, by ‘Kim Dotcom,’ a successful German businessman and political activist respected in various social media platforms, stated:

“Have your mind blown: International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan who charged Putin with war crimes for evacuating children from a Warzone had his convicted pedophile brother Imran Khan released from a UK prison on a reduced sentence one month ago.”

The Guardian reported on May 23 2022, that Imran, a member of Parliament, was found guilty and ordered jail for 18 months for the sexual assault of a15-year old boy.

The ICC is also accused of being biased against African countries. The BBC reported on February 1. 2017, of the call by the African Union for the “mass withdrawal” of all African countries from the ICC.

The Philippines joined the ICC in 2011, the first major act of the pro-West Aquino administration. It then withdrew from the ICC in 2018, successfully completing the process a year later.

(Editor’s Note: For those wanting to be updated on the scandals of the ICC and Karim Khan, follow ‘@ICC_Leaks’ and on X).