The British chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court allegedly sexually assaulted a female colleague in a hotel room in Africa just hours before making an impassioned speech, via video-link, to the United Nations.
The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Karim Khan KC, the barrister bringing a controversial war crimes case against Israel, is alleged to have coerced the woman into having non-consensual sex with him during an official trip to Chad, where he met victims of sexual violence.
The alleged incident is said to have happened at the Radisson Blu hotel in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, when Mr Khan is claimed to have asked the female lawyer to come to his luxury suite, where he held meetings, to review a speech he was due to make remotely to the UN Security Council.
It is understood the woman, a lawyer in her 30s, claims she told him multiple times she wanted to leave the room – but that he took her mobile phones and repeatedly pulled her by the arm towards his bed after she stood still.
Later that day he briefed the UN about war crimes, including rape, being committed in neighbouring Darfur and about the traumatised refugees he had recently met in two camps on the Sudan border.
This newspaper contacted Mr Khan’s lawyers about the allegation last Thursday. On Friday it emerged that he had temporarily stepped down from his position.
Mr Khan, 55, controversially announced he was seeking the arrests of Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant in May 2024 – two weeks after learning the colleague had made serious allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
An external investigation by a UN watchdog was launched six months later and is understood to be examining multiple allegations of sexual assault.
The woman told investigators that Mr Khan performed non-consensual sex acts with her during a string of foreign trips including to New York, Colombia and Paris over an 11-month period.
Mr Khan, through his lawyers, said it was ‘categorically untrue that he has engaged in sexual misconduct of any kind’.
The MoS can this weekend reveal that the woman also claims Mr Khan assaulted her at least ten times in his office at the ICC in The Hague. It is understood she alleges that during each of these assaults he locked both of the doors in his office before molesting her.
It is also claimed he ordered court staff to fully ‘frost’ the window between his office and the corridor – so no one could see inside.
It is understood the alleged victim claims this happened less than two weeks after she tried to avoid being touched by him by using the excuse that someone walking past could see their legs and feet through the glass, which was then only partially frosted.
It is understood Mr Khan was interviewed by investigators about the allegations nine days ago in The Hague. There are, however, mounting concerns over the transparency of the probe, which is being carried out by the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services.
Sources say the final report, which will be sent to the president of the court’s governing body, will not be made public and nor will it be made available to countries which make up the court, including the UK.
There are also questions over why Mr Khan stepped aside only two days ago, given the investigation was launched six months ago.
It is understood investigators are examining allegations that he previously engaged in witness intimidation. An ICC source said: ‘What makes it so astonishing to me is that in any other institution or work place this would be dealt with so differently.’
The alleged assault in Chad, one of the world’s poorest countries, is said to have taken place on January 29 last year. Days earlier Mr Khan had visited the Farchana and Adre camps, where thousands of refugees have fled following years of bloodshed in Darfur, Sudan.
The MoS understands the woman feared resisting further would spark a retaliation from him and jeopardise her career. On occasions when she did manage to avoid him, it is understood she claims Mr Khan rebuked her for not doing her job properly.
Speaking to the UN Security Council, hours after the alleged assault, he said the world faced a ‘pandemic of inhumanity’.
Last Sunday the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Khan faced ‘multiple allegations of coerced sexual intercourse’ involving the same woman.
It also reported an allegation that he tried to get the alleged victim to retract her claims over fears it would harm the ICC’s investigation into the Gaza conflict, saying: ‘Think about the Palestinian arrest warrants.’
One of the alleged assaults described in the article is said to have taken place during a trip to Bogota, Colombia in April 2024.
The MoS understands this is alleged to have taken place at a luxury Four Seasons hotel and that the woman claims she tried to avoid meeting with him by pretending she had altitude sickness and needed to sleep.
It is understood the woman claims that, despite her protests, he arrived at her hotel room and allegedly lay down next to her and assaulted her – even though she was pretending to be asleep.
Another alleged incident, reported by the Wall Street Journal, is said to have taken place in his corner suite at the Millennium Hilton hotel in New York, just yards from the UN’s headquarters.
It is claimed she was in his room to discuss a work matter but when she tried to leave several times, he allegedly pulled her towards the bed, pulled off her trousers and had non-consensual sex with her.
The ICC said in a statement on Friday that Mr Khan had ‘communicated his decision to take leave until the end’ of the investigation.
Lawyers representing Mr Khan last night said he was ‘cooperating fully and transparently’ with the misconduct investigation and that there were ‘significant constraints’ on what he can say while it is ongoing.
They said he had requested in October 2024 that an investigation take place after the matter had been closed by ICC officials.
‘Our client does wish to make clear, however, that it is categorically untrue that he has engaged in sexual misconduct of any kind,’ the lawyers said.