From the Liveblog of
Friday, July 17, 2026
ICC staffer recounts sex abuse allegations against Karim Khan in CNN interview
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A junior lawyer at the International Criminal Court repeats her allegations that prosecutor Karim Khan had non-consensual sexual contact with her, in a CNN interview that is her first public media appearance.
Khan, 56, denies any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Sareta Ashraph, tells CNN he denies “any form of sexual contact, relationship, consensual or non-consensual” with the alleged victim.
The woman, identified only as Sarah, does not comment on the ICC’s investigations into Khan, but tells CNN he showed escalating behavior of touching and groping her, recounting a time she said he touched her intimately while she was pretending to be asleep.
“There is no way for something to be consensual when you have such a power disparity,” Sarah tells CNN.
Diplomats running the ICC’s oversight body have decided Khan did have an inappropriate sexual relationship with a junior staff member and should be fired, according to documents seen by Reuters. The court’s 125 member states are set to vote on July 24 on a proposal to dismiss him for alleged sexual misconduct.
Khan’s supporters claim he has become a political target for seeking arrest warrants in 2024 for Israeli officials over the war in Gaza.
In the interview, Sarah denies rumors she worked for the Mossad spy agency, saying she underwent extensive security checks in order to be able to work closely with Khan and his predecessor.
“If ever there was even a hint of suspicion that I was a state agent of any kind, I would have been dismissed,” she says.
The Times of Israel Community.