Prosecutor Accused of Sexual Misconduct Takes Leave From International Court

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court who has obtained arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir V. Putin, will step down temporarily pending an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against him, the court confirmed.

Mr. Khan, who has consistently denied accusations that he sexually harassed a colleague, communicated his decision to the court on Friday, its press office said.

He made headlines and spurred geopolitical backlash last year when he sought arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and other top Israeli and Hamas leaders, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In 2021 he secured a warrant for Mr. Putin, the Russian president, for offenses in the war in Ukraine.

The sexual misconduct allegations against Mr. Khan, who is British, came to light last year. A British newspaper, The Daily Mail, reported in October that a female colleague had accused him of harassment. The Guardian later reported that Mr. Khan had tried to suppress the accuser’s claims.

Mr. Khan denied the allegations of both harassment and a cover-up andsaid on social media that he had asked for and would “cooperate fully” with an investigation. In November, the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, announced that it had commissioned an independent probe into the accusations “to ensure a fully independent, impartial and fair process.”

But over the past week, calls have ramped up for Mr. Khan to step aside as the investigation continues, thanks in part to a Wall Street Journal article about the inquiry. The article cited testimony to the U.N. officials, reporting that the woman in question has said that Mr. Khan forced her to have sexual intercourse. Mr. Khan, through his lawyers, again denied any misconduct.