ICC Chief Prosecutor who requested the arrest of Netanyahu and Putin: Who is Karim Khan?

On May 20, Khan requested an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Yahya Sinvar, on the grounds that they committed war crimes.

This request is a first in ICC history; Because before this, none of the leaders who were brought to the agenda with arrest warrants were considered close allies of the West, especially the USA.

In 2011, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on the grounds of "committing crimes against humanity".

Karim Asad Ahmad Khan KC (born 30 March 1970) is a British-Pakistani lawyer specialising in international criminal law and international human rights law, who has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2021.

Before that, it had issued two separate arrest warrants against former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir, in 2009 and 2010, on charges ranging from torture and forced displacement.

A significant portion of the cases handled by the ICC to date concerned the Global South, especially African countries.

At the end of his speech on Monday, Khan placed special emphasis on the equal application of the law to everyone:

"Today, let's make a fundamental point clear: If we do not demonstrate our willingness to apply the law equally, we will create the conditions for the collapse of the law, given that it is applied selectively..."

In his statement, Khan pointed out the "deliberate starvation and cruel treatment" imposed by Israel against the people of Gaza, especially after the October 7 attacks.

Israel and its close ally, the United States, reacted to Khan's request.

"How dare you compare Israel with Hamas?" Netanyahu said, accusing the attorney general of "pouring fuel on the anti-Semitic fire in the world."

Stating that there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas, US President Joe Biden said, "We will always stand with them against threats to Israel's security."

However, it is not a new situation for the ICC or the Chief Prosecutor to receive harsh reactions to the decisions taken.

Attorney General Khan played a similar role in the ICC's issuance of arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova about a year ago.

It was claimed that the two men were responsible for illegal human transfers and deportations from Ukraine and occupied territories to Russia.

Russia launched an investigation against Khan and three ICC judges within days of this decision. Months later, ICC officials were put on the "wanted criminals" list in Russia.

In 2020, when Donald Trump was president, the USA announced its decision to impose sanctions on ICC officials investigating allegations that American soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Karim Khan is a senior lawyer with over 30 years of professional experience as an international criminal law and human rights lawyer.

He was elected ICC Chief Prosecutor on 12 February 2021; He took the oath of office on June 16, 2021.

Before this, Khan was the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and served as Head of the UN Investigation Team for the Punishment of ISIS Crimes in Iraq (UNITAD) from 2018-2021.

He has extensive experience as a prosecutor, defendant, and defense lawyer in domestic and international criminal courts, including the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the Extraordinary Chambers of the International Criminal Court, the Cambodian Tribunals, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone.

In his career, Khan has also represented victims of human rights violations in Africa and Asia.