The Assembly of the 125 member states of the International Criminal Court today removed Prosecutor General Karim Khan, a 56-year-old British lawyer, accused of sexual misconduct toward a member of his staff. Khan has consistently denied the accusations.

The decision was taken by secret ballot during an extraordinary closed-door meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Of the 125 member states, 82 voted in favour of removing Khan for serious misconduct and serious breach of his duties, exceeding the threshold of 63 votes required for an absolute majority. Thirteen states voted against and 15 abstained, according to diplomatic sources.

Khan had been temporarily suspended from his duties in June, pending the final vote. One of the removed prosecutor's lawyers, Tayab Ali, announced that Khan intends to challenge the decision with all available legal mechanisms, reiterating that his client has always denied the accusations.

The prosecutor's office had been conducting war crimes investigations against senior Israeli officials in relation to the conflict in the Gaza Strip, which had led to arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to diplomatic and journalistic sources, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar had worked in the preceding weeks to persuade as many states as possible to vote in favour of removal or to abstain. Sa'ar subsequently stated that the arrest warrants issued by Khan were politicized and called for their immediate revocation, also noting that Israel is not a member of the Court.