British human rights lawyer Karim Khan, who has handled high-profile cases including representing Kenya\u2019s Deputy President William Ruto, is the new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khan, 50, previously led a special UN probe into crimes by the Islamic State extremist group in which he pressed for a trial on the lines of Nuremberg for Nazi war criminals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More controversially, he also represented late Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi\u2019s son Seif al-Islam and is also remembered for representing Kenya\u2019s Deputy president Ruto whose charges were dropped by incumbent prosecutor Bensouda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khan will be only the third prosecutor of the ICC, taking over in June from Gambian-born Fatou Bensouda, who has outraged Washington through her investigations into the Afghanistan war and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict leading to sanctions against her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ICC nations failed to reach a consensus choice, triggering a vote in New York among four candidates in which Khan won on the second ballot with 72 votes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the first round, he did not win a majority but narrowly edged out Ireland\u2019s Fergal Gaynor, who has represented victims before the ICC in the Afghan war investigation and in a case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The United Nations has 193 member states but only 123 are in the ICC, with the United States, Israel, China and Russia notably absent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Khan will take on a bulging file of difficult cases at a tribunal whose legitimacy is constantly under attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are many places where the ICC could take action,\u201d one UN envoy said Friday on condition of anonymity, adding he hoped the voting would not stretch over several days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new prosecutor\u2019s first tasks will include deciding the next steps on the probe into war crimes in Afghanistan and the hugely contentious investigation into the 2014 Israel-Palestinian conflict in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The administration of then US president Donald Trump hit Bensouda and another senior ICC official last year with sanctions including a travel ban and asset freeze after she launched the probe that includes alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israel and the United States have also strongly opposed the probe into alleged war crimes by both Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ICC judges however ruled last week that the court had jurisdiction over the situation in the Palestinian territories, paving the way for a full investigation after a five-year preliminary probe opened by Bensouda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new US administration of President Joe Biden has signaled a less confrontational line but has not said whether it will drop sanctions against Bensouda, who has attacked the \u201cunacceptable\u201d measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other candidates for the job included Spanish judge Carlos Castresana, who previously headed a UN panel combating crime and corruption in Guatemala but resigned in 2010 alleging \u201csystemic attacks\u201d by power-hungry officials, and Francesco Lo Voi, an Italian prosecutor of the Mafia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bensouda has had a mixed record in her tenure since 2012 even as she expanded \u2014 some analysts say overextended \u2014 the court\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under her leadership, former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo was cleared of crimes against humanity, while former DR Congo vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba was acquitted on appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
British human rights lawyer Karim Khan, who has handled high-profile cases including representing Kenya\u2019s Deputy President William Ruto, is the new prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Khan, 50, previously led a special UN probe into crimes by the Islamic State extremist group in which he pressed for a trial on the lines of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":21600,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[356,98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-21599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-story","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n