Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor handling war crimes case in Israel, ‘tried to hush up allegations of sexual abuse’

Officials close to Mr. Khan, 54, have suggested he may be the victim of a smear campaign, but the prosecutor has not accused Israel of involvement. Instead, he said that he and the ISS had been “targeted by a wide range of attacks and threats.”

Mr Khan told The Guardian that he did not pressure the woman to withdraw her complaint.

His lawyers said: “Our client denies all allegations and we are most concerned that the release of a confidential and sealed internal file is designed to undermine his high-profile current job at a sensitive time.”

In an earlier statement released when the allegations first appeared in the media, Mr Khan said: “There is no truth to the allegations of this misconduct.

“I have worked in various fields for 30 years and no one has ever filed a complaint against me like this.”

“Forced sexual behavior”

The allegations include unwanted sexual touching and “brutal treatment” over a long period of time, as well as allegations that Mr Khan “pushed his tongue” on the woman’s ear, The Guardian reported.

There are also allegations of coercive sexual behavior and abuse of power, the newspaper reported.

The alleged victim did not comment. Multiple sources told The Guardian that she resisted perceived pressure to deny the allegations and believed Mr Khan wanted to force her to say the allegations were fabricated.

The sources said the woman did not file a complaint against Mr. Khan because she feared reprisals and that Israel might use it for political reasons.

“Zero Tolerance Policy”

After the allegations first emerged, the Independent Oversight Mechanism, which investigates misconduct by the ICC, issued a statement calling for the privacy of all involved to be respected.

“The court has a zero-tolerance policy for prohibited conduct such as harassment, including sexual harassment, discrimination and abuse of power,” the statement said.

“Any reports of misconduct are taken very seriously, with full respect for the presumption of innocence and a duty of care towards ICC staff.”