Some at ICC said to question integrity of UN inquiry into top prosecutor
UK report notes Karim Khan’s close ties to agency tasked with investigating him over alleged sexual misconduct
Questions have been raised as to the integrity of the International Criminal Court’s probe into sexual misconduct accusations against its top prosecutor, Karim Khan, The Guardian reported Saturday, citing his ties to the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), the UN body tasked with the investigation.
The British paper quoted unnamed ICC staff as saying links between the prosecutor and the UN watchdog body could jeopardize the impartiality of the investigation into claims he tried to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship.
Staff are also said to be upset that Khan did not temporarily step aside during the inquiry against him. The Guardian cited a source as saying that “staff are boiling that he has unilaterally decided to stay on.”
The report said that several court officials have “raised concerns” about Khan’s ties to the OIOS, and are worried about conflict of interest in the investigation.
The report names two key OIOS figures, one current and one former, as having particularly close ties to the ICC prosecutor.
The first figure is Khan’s wife, Dato Shyamala Alagendra, who worked as an investigator at the OIOS from 2019 to 2020, specifically in the office’s sexual harassment and abuse department. Alagendra, originally from Malaysia, is a well-known human rights lawyer who specializes in women’s rights and investigating gender-based violence.
The report said senior UN officials are concerned that Alagendra’s “deep connections” with the OIOS could jeopardize the integrity of the inquiry against her husband.
The report also claimed that Alagendra contacted the alleged victim after the case was brought to her attention in May, citing multiple UN sources. She ostensibly suggested that she and the victim should meet the following day.
The report said, citing UN sources, that the alleged victim told coworkers that she was “alarmed” by the contact and that she was contacted two additional times.
The sources also claimed that Khan’s wife contacted a senior ICC staff member who had reported the allegations to the court’s internal review team.
According to the report, UN sources said Alagendra’s contact with the alleged victim and the ICC staff member were “unusual and highly inappropriate.”
Alagendra denied the claims, saying: “I have never discussed these allegations or any related inquiry with an alleged victim or with anyone from OIOS. Nor have I ever attempted to discourage, threaten or intimidate anyone at all.” She said the allegations were “extremely hurtful to me because all spheres of my life have been devoted to defending and upholding the rights of the vulnerable and disadvantaged.”
The second figure said to have particularly close ties with Khan is the director of the OIOS’s investigations division, who was reportedly hired by Khan for a UN investigation into ISIS beginning in 2019, and worked closely with Khan for years.
The Guardian reached out to the investigator for comment, but she denied the request.
Khan’s lawyers denied any relationship with the investigator, saying: “He has had no communication with that official or for that matter the OIOS itself for some years.”
Khan has categorically denied all accusations, and said the sexual misconduct allegations align with a misinformation campaign against his office, after he submitted a request to ICC judges for arrest warrants against two Israeli leaders and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges.
In May, Khan filed a request for arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, alleging that they had committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in their prosecution of the war against Hamas in Gaza following the terror organization’s invasion and massacre on October 7 last year.
A three-judge panel is now weighing that request. Israel has rejected the charges out of hand, and has criticized Khan for failing to give the country the opportunity to investigate his allegations before submitting an official request for a warrant.
