Karim Khan, the Worldwide Prison Court docket prosecutor who introduced on Monday that he would apply for arrest warrants for leaders of Israel and Hamas, has gained a repute over an extended profession in worldwide legislation as a gifted speaker and a tough-minded litigator.
A British litigator, he took over as chief prosecutor of the I.C.C. in June 2021. Earlier than that, he had served for each the protection and the prosecution at a number of worldwide courts.
Amongst his high-profile purchasers had been Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, son of the late Libyan dictator Muammar el-Qaddafi; and Charles Taylor, the previous president of Liberia, who fired him.
One contentious case was his protection of William Ruto, now the president of Kenya, who confronted costs of inciting violence that adopted nationwide elections. In 2016, when Mr. Ruto was deputy president, the case led to a mistrial due to witness interference and political meddling. Mr. Khan was not accused of wrongdoing. He additionally labored on warfare crimes points in Rwanda, Cambodia and Iraq.
The I.C.C. member nations elect a prosecutor in a secret poll, and in 2021 they selected Mr. Khan after a monthslong impasse. He acquired robust backing from Britain, amongst others in Europe. Although america will not be a member of the court docket, Washington officers supported him behind the scenes.
One in all his first acts as prosecutor, which took many unexpectedly, was to “deprioritize” an investigation into abuse of prisoners by American forces in Afghanistan, as a substitute specializing in the larger-scale alleged crimes by the Taliban and Islamic State.
He started an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine quickly after it started in 2022, and obtained an arrest warrant for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and one other Russian official in March 2023. He had proven little progress in an investigation, opened in 2021, of alleged crimes by Israel in opposition to Palestinians, nor of crimes by Hamas.
Quite a few authorized commentators have argued that the disparity displays a double commonplace that harms the court docket, although the court docket has stated that the investigation has been hampered by lack of cooperation from Israel. Critics charged that Mr. Khan was gradual to react to the Hamas-led assault in opposition to Israel on Oct. 7, and Israel’s subsequent army response, which has created a humanitarian disaster in its effort to crush Hamas.
However Mr. Khan has famous that investigators had been allowed to work inside Ukraine instantly, whereas Israel has prevented him or anybody from his workplace from coming into Gaza. He was not too long ago permitted to journey to the West Financial institution and to villages in Israel that had been attacked by Hamas.
Mr. Khan’s announcement on Monday that he had requested the judges for arrest warrants for 2 high Israeli officers — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, the nation’s protection minister — and three Hamas leaders was an distinctive occasion by I.C.C. requirements.
As a substitute of ready for judges to determine or signal warrants, he unexpectedly revealed his plans in a recorded announcement on the court docket’s web site. Equally uncommon was his simultaneous disclosure of a listing of distinguished consultants, two of them former judges, whom he had consulted to evaluate his proof and his authorized evaluation earlier than looking for the warrants. Whereas prosecutors are identified to seek the advice of specialists, some consultants noticed the publication of the record of names as an effort by Mr. Khan to exhibit that there was robust authorized help for his determination outdoors the court docket.
Christine van den Wyngaert, a veteran Belgian jurist who has served on the I.C.C. and different worldwide tribunals, stated Mr. Khan was “displaying that he gave this loads of thought.”
She added: “He seems to be extra prudent than his predecessors. Their instances at occasions failed as a result of they lacked adequate proof.”
