British law chief opens war crimes case against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused of sexually assaulting colleague

The head of the British court, which initiates the case of war crimes against the Prime Minister of Israel, is accused of sexual violence against a colleague.

Karim Khan, 54, is alleged to have groped the woman in his office and allegedly climbed into her hotel bed and began “sexually touching” her.

The allegations come after The Mail on Sunday revealed last week that Mr Khan, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), faced an internal review there in May over claims he had harassed a woman.

The complaint came shortly before Mr. Khan called for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Father-of-two Mr Khan continued to deny allegations of harassment as new claims emerged.

Karim Khan, 54, (pictured) is alleged to have groped the woman in his office and allegedly climbed into her hotel bed and began “sexually touching” her

He also allegedly knocked on her hotel room door for ten minutes while they were away on another business trip, and on another occasion Mr Khan allegedly locked his office door before putting his hand in the woman’s pocket.

In addition, Mr. Khan’s wife, Shyamala Alagendra, is accused of intimidating a whistleblower who first reported harassment against her husband.

In a document seen by the Department of Homeland Security, the senior employee claims she “threatened” to spread false rumors about him.

Human rights lawyer Ms Alagendra last night said the allegations were “false”.

The Associated Press reported that Mr. Khan gave the woman a raise in her promotion. Their time together allegedly increased after a dinner in London where he took her hand and is said to have complained about his marriage.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, speaks during a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on March 10, last year.

She became a regular presence on official trips. In one, Mr Khan allegedly asked a woman to rest with him on a hotel bed, complaining of a headache, before allegedly “sexually touching her” without her consent.

It is later claimed that he came to her room at three in the morning and knocked on the door for ten minutes.

Mr Khan said there was “no truth” to the allegations and that in his 30 years of work he had always supported victims of sexual harassment and abuse.

The ICC said the woman had not filed any official complaint. But she reportedly does not trust the court’s watchdog, the Internal Oversight Mechanism, to conduct a proper investigation.

She reportedly asked the member-state body that oversees the ICC, called the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, to investigate. The ICC said that this request is under review.