A second girl has come ahead to an inquiry investigating sexual abuse allegations in opposition to Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the worldwide felony court docket (ICC), the Guardian has discovered.
The lady has alleged that whereas working for the distinguished British lawyer earlier in his profession, he behaved inappropriately, subjecting her to undesirable sexual advances, abused his authority over her, and repeatedly sought to strain her into sexual exercise.
Khan, who denies sexual misconduct “of any kind”, has briefly stepped apart as head of the ICC’s prosecution division as he awaits the end result of the inquiry into separate abuse allegations introduced by a member of his employees on the court docket.
Launched final yr, the inquiry by a UN watchdog acquired the brand new allegations from the second girl this summer season. Its investigators are understood to have performed a number of interviews with the intention to look at her claims, which date again to 2009.
On the time, the lady was in her 20s and dealing as an unpaid intern for Khan. He was a number one defence lawyer on the ICC and different conflict crimes tribunals in The Hague, having notably represented the previous Liberian president Charles Taylor.
Talking solely to the Guardian, the lady stated Khan abused his energy and affect over her and described his behaviour as a “constant onslaught” of advances. “He shouldn’t have been doing it,” she stated. “He was my employer.”
The lady spoke on situation of anonymity as she fears reprisals and hostile penalties for her and her household if publicly recognized. She got here ahead after studying concerning the newer allegations made in opposition to Khan by the ICC staffer.
The second girl’s account of Khan’s alleged mistreatment of her accommodates a number of similarities to the staffer’s allegations, particulars of which have been shared by individuals acquainted with her claims. Each girls have alleged that Khan would ask them to come back to work at his dwelling. There, they every allege, he would sit beside them on a sofa, contact them, kiss them and attempt to persuade them to lie down with him.
Legal professionals for Khan didn’t tackle particular particulars of both girl’s allegations however stated: “It is wholly untrue that he has engaged in sexual misconduct of any kind.”
They stated Khan “categorically denies” having “harassed or mistreated any individual, or having misused his position or authority, or engaged in any conduct that could be interpreted as coercive, exploitative, or professionally inappropriate”.
They claimed Khan had supplied detailed proof to the inquiry that “sits squarely at odds with the allegations that have been put to him” and “in a number of material respects show those allegations to be demonstrably untrue”.
Khan, 55, was elected in 2021 to serve a nine-year time period as chief prosecutor. He’s in impact the general public face of the ICC, a everlasting court docket of final resort that investigates and prosecutes people accused of atrocities.
Since taking workplace, Khan has raised the court docket’s profile and thrust it into the crosshairs of main powers, with arrest warrants issued for suspects together with the Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.
His tenure was thrown into turmoil final yr when the allegations made by the ICC staffer grew to become public. The lady, a lawyer in her 30s who labored straight for him, alleges the misconduct occurred over an prolonged interval between 2023 and 2024.
Khan and his representatives have sought to forged the emergence of the allegations as a part of a marketing campaign by hostile exterior actors to discredit and put strain on him in response to actions he has taken in opposition to Netanyahu and the previous Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Whereas the Guardian understands there have been makes an attempt by pro-Israeli actors to temporary journalists and leak details about the ICC staffer’s grievance, it has discovered no proof to counsel both girl has raised the allegations as a part of an elaborate plot in opposition to the prosecutor.
As soon as the UN watchdog’s investigation is accomplished, its findings might be reviewed by a panel of judicial consultants who will advise the ICC’s governing physique if any motion must be taken in opposition to Khan.
If he’s discovered to have dedicated “serious misconduct” or a critical breach of his duties, the prosecutor may face an unprecedented reckoning: a secret poll by which the ICC’s 125 member states would vote on whether or not to take away him from workplace.
‘Confused and humiliated’
Because the sexual abuse allegations shook the ICC final yr, Khan issued a press release insisting that in 30 years of working in “diverse contexts” there had “never been any such complaint lodged against me by anyone”.
Patricia (not her actual identify) stated that when she learn concerning the allegations and noticed Khan’s assertion, her “heart sank”. She stated that beforehand, as an intern firstly of her profession, she had felt unable to make a proper grievance.
Patricia stated that earlier than going to work for Khan she had considered the internship as an “exciting and meaningful” alternative. “Karim was a well-connected, well-respected person who could make things happen, and someone who would put a good word in for you,” she stated.
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Nevertheless, she stated working for Khan “came at a price it shouldn’t have come at, and the price it came at did disturb and distress me for some time afterwards”.
In keeping with Patricia, an early expertise of Khan’s alleged misconduct occurred on the court docket’s workplaces the place she claimed Khan “groped” her breasts with a “prolonged” caress that was “completely unconsented”.
“It wasn’t like ‘oops, I brushed the back of my hand against you, I’m sorry’,” she stated. “He was too close.”
Patricia stated the incident within the workplace left her “confused and humiliated”, however over the next weeks she was required to work carefully with Khan on getting ready a part of a case. Throughout this era, she stated, Khan requested her on no less than six events to work at his dwelling in The Hague, the place they’d be alone collectively.
She stated that when working at his house she needed to negotiate his advances whereas attempting to get work finished. “I was trying to figure out how to stay in his good graces and get the work experience while not sleeping with him and succumbing,” she stated.
This was troublesome, she stated, “because when we were in his house it was just like a constant onslaught”. She claimed that every time she labored on the house “it would be another round of [Khan] sitting next to me on the couch and touching me and kissing me and trying to convince me to sleep with him”.
Patricia stated she “felt trapped” on the time. She was protecting the prices of the internship and felt it was very important she acquired a optimistic letter of advice from Khan. Complaining was not an choice, she stated, and the selection she confronted was to “either persevere or leave”.
“It felt critical to me to get through the experience,” she stated. “I remember walking to his house and feeling like I had to amp myself up, feeling like I had to fortify myself.”
She stated she refused Khan’s specific requests to have intercourse. “I remember coming up with all kinds of dumb excuses for why I did not want to sleep with him, just to try and not make him angry.”
She stated though she was “miserable” and depressed whereas working for Khan, she determined to remain. After the internship had completed, she acquired a glowing suggestion letter from Khan. She stated it “felt like a deal with the devil”.
Patricia stated she remained in contact with Khan for a number of years as she felt knowledgeable must carry on good phrases with him. Over time, she stated, she got here to grasp how Khan’s behaviour had affected her.
She stated Khan would ship her messages now and again lengthy after the internship, although she finally stopped responding. In 2019, she acquired what she described as a “weird message” out of the blue. Khan stated he was occupied with her. He thanked her for her “good company” and for “being a very good friend to me”.
She replied: “Karim, it does not make me happy to hear from you, that is why I do not respond. I wish you wouldn’t contact me, please don’t do it any more.” She didn’t hear from Khan once more.
ICC staffer: ‘Ceaseless’ advances
After studying concerning the ICC staffer’s allegations in opposition to Khan final yr, Patricia contacted the Guardian. She stated she was “disturbed” that one thing much like her expertise was alleged to have occurred once more so a few years later.
This summer season she supplied formal testimony to the UN’s Workplace of Inside Oversight Providers (OIOS), the physique investigating the ICC staffer’s allegations. A supply acquainted with the inquiry stated the watchdog had reviewed materials shared by Patricia and interviewed individuals near her. A spokesperson for the OIOS stated it didn’t touch upon its investigation actions.
For the previous 9 months, investigators have been analyzing the ICC staffer’s allegations. Because the Guardian reported final yr, her claims embody allegations of coercive sexual behaviour and abuse of authority. The alleged sexual misconduct is claimed to have occurred in lodge rooms throughout work journeys, in Khan’s workplace on the ICC and at his dwelling.
Since then, new particulars have emerged concerning the staffer’s allegations. A number of ICC sources and different people with data of the claims stated there have been a number of cases of alleged sexual abuse stated to have occurred at Khan’s dwelling after she was requested to go there for work causes.
In keeping with two sources, the staffer has alleged Khan would typically deliver her over to a sofa in the lounge the place he would contact her and try to influence her to interact in sexual exercise. She is claimed to have tried to keep away from his advances and tried to make excuses to go away.
The staffer has described Khan’s advances at his dwelling as “ceaseless”. In a single file of the allegations, she stated: “He would try to kiss me and I would always move my head away and move back and he would tell me to stop moving and say ‘kiss me, kiss me’.”
Khan’s place
The legislation agency representing Khan, Carter-Ruck, stated he had an unblemished file and denied the allegations. They stated he was “cooperating fully and transparently” with the continued inquiry however that he had “grave concerns as to whether the investigation can deliver due process”.
They claimed Khan “has been the subject of an orchestrated campaign” and stated he was conscious of makes an attempt to “discredit him and destroy his personal reputation through the media, as a direct consequence of his role in issuing the arrest warrants” for Netanyahu and Gallant.
Final yr the Guardian, with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Journal and the Hebrew-language outlet Native Name, revealed how Israel’s intelligence businesses had run a marketing campaign in opposition to the ICC. This included a Mossad operation that tried to intimidate and smear Khan’s predecessor Fatou Bensouda.
Towards this backdrop, Khan and other people appearing on his behalf have sought to counsel in non-public and to journalists that he’s the topic of an identical effort by Israeli intelligence.
In latest weeks, retailers similar to Center East Eye (MEE) and Le Monde have revealed stories about pressures purportedly positioned on Khan. An MEE article claimed the ICC’s investigation into Israeli conflict crimes had been “derailed by threats, leaks and sex claims”, and raised questions concerning the reliability of the staffer’s allegations.
5 ICC sources acquainted with Khan’s response to the claims when the allegations first surfaced instructed the Guardian that his crew concluded it was extremely unlikely the abuse claims have been a part of an intelligence operation. One of many sources stated pro-Israeli pursuits “may have exploited the story but they didn’t create the story”.
The ICC staffer on the coronary heart of the inquiry has been significantly distressed by strategies she is a part of a pro-Israeli plot, in response to individuals who know her. They famous that she is Muslim, and was recognized inside the prosecutor’s workplace to have been supportive of its investigation into senior Israeli officers’ crimes in Gaza.
