From 1993 to 1996, Khan was a
Crown Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales, having been appointed a Senior Crown Prosecutor in 1995. Between 1996 and 1997, he was a member of staff at the
Law Commission of England and Wales. From 1997 to 1998, he worked as a Legal Officer at the Office of the Prosecutor at the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). He later served as Legal Adviser at the Office of the Prosecutor at the
International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) until 2000. From 2006 to 2007, he was lead defence counsel to former
President of Liberia Charles Taylor before the
Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL). Between 2008 and 2010, he was engaged as Lead Counsel before the ICC representing Sudanese rebel leader
Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, the first ICC suspect to voluntarily surrender to the jurisdiction of the Court. In January 2011, he was instructed as Lead Counsel to represent
Francis Muthaura before the ICC in relation to the
post-election violence in 2007–2008. Khan represented a group of Anglophone human rights lawyers charged with terrorism and other offences before the Military Court in
Yaoundé, Cameroon, as international counsel from February 2017 until September 2017. Also in 2017, he represented more than 100,000 victim claimants from the
Kipsigi and Talai communities in Kenya seeking redress for alleged human rights violations committed during
British colonial rule. Khan said: "Certain historical injustices need to be recognised... It's something that I feel very passionately about and it's really worthwhile." Khan served until 2018 as a member of the executive council and the victims committee of the International Criminal Court Bar Association (ICCBA), and he was the president of the ICCBA from June 2017 to June 2018. At the end of his tenure, Khan was appointed the first honorary president of the ICCBA. Until June 2021, Khan was based in Baghdad, and served as Special Adviser and Head of the United Nations Investigative Team for the Promotion of Accountability for Crimes Committed by
Da'esh/ISIL in
Iraq (UNITAD), established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2379 (2017). Khan led the team in achieving its mandate in the collection, storage, and preservation of evidence related to crimes committed by Da'esh/ISIL; the promotion throughout the world of accountability for the crimes committed by Da'esh/ISIL; to work with survivors in recognition of their interest in the achievement of accountability for crimes to which they have been subjected; to respect the sovereignty of the Government of Iraq in performing this investigation. Khan met with government, religious, and community leadership across Iraq as part of his mandate at UNITAD. , Dutch Foreign Minister
Wopke Hoekstra, Khan, and Ukraine's Prosecutor General
Iryna Venediktova in
The Hague, Netherlands, 22 July 2022
Chief prosecutor of International Criminal Court On 12 February 2021, Khan was elected
chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on a nine-year term during the second round of voting, receiving votes from 72 out of 123 member states (62 needed). Khan was the third chief prosecutor elected in the ICC's history, and the first one elected by secret ballot. Khan had been nominated by the United Kingdom. He took office in June 2021, replacing the Gambian lawyer
Fatou Bensouda. In September 2021, Khan resumed the investigation into crimes committed by the
Taliban and the
Islamic State in Khorassan in Afghanistan which had been suspended in 2020 at the request of the government of
Kabul. He dropped the investigation into the war crimes in Afghanistan committed by international forces, including the United States, in
Afghanistan. In April 2022, Khan said of the
Russian invasion of Ukraine: "We have reasonable grounds to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court are being committed." Eleven months later, he applied for two arrest warrants alleging
Vladimir Putin and
Maria Lvova-Belova violated two
Rome Statute rules against systematic deportation, transfer and hostage-taking. In response, Russia issued a warrant for Khan's arrest. In response, the Russian government declared that Khan was wanted in relation to their own investigation of him in relation to his "criminal prosecution of a man who is known to be innocent". On 24 June 2024, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian politician and military officer
Sergei Shoigu and Russian army general
Valery Gerasimov. In November 2024, Khan requested an arrest warrant for the
Myanmar military junta leader, Min Aung Hlaing, for crimes against humanity related to the
Rohingya genocide. In October 2025, the ICC dismissed Khan from the case against former Philippine president
Rodrigo Duterte due to perceived
conflict of interest stemming from Khan's contact with some of the victims of Duterte's alleged crimes, whom Khan legally represented.
Arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders During the
Gaza war,
Business Insider reported that a statement by Khan "appeared to suggest" that both
Israel and
Hamas could be
prosecuted by the ICC. According to Khan, the
bar for evidence that a hospital, school, or place of worship is being used for military purposes is very high. On 17 November 2023, Khan stated the ICC had received a joint request by South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros, and Djibouti to investigate alleged
Israeli war crimes. South African Foreign Minister
Naledi Pandor asked Khan why he was able to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Putin, but not for Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli government called emergency meetings over concerns the ICC could be preparing arrest warrants against Netanyahu, other senior officials, or officers of the Israeli Defense Forces. It decided it would reach out to the court and 'diplomatic figures with influence' with the aim of blocking the issuing of arrest warrants. Netanyahu raised the matter in his meetings with Britain's Foreign Secretary
David Cameron and Germany's Foreign Minister
Annalena Baerbock, and sought their help. On 24 April 2024, Khan was sent a letter signed by 12
Republican U.S. senators threatening him and other UN jurists and their families with personal consequences if the ICC were to seek an international arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu or other members of the Israeli government. The letter cited the
American Service-Members' Protection Act – known informally as "The Hague Invasion Act" – which specifically includes "all means". The signatories said they would view any arrest warrant as "a threat not only to Israel's sovereignty, but also to the sovereignty of the United States". They threatened: "Target Israel and we will target you", and that any further action would "end all American support for the ICC" and "exclude [Khan and his associates and employees] and their families from the United States". The letter ended: "You have been warned." UK Foreign Secretary
David Cameron told Khan that the UK would defund and withdraw from the ICC if the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued. On 20 May 2024, on the advice of a panel of legal experts, Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas's leader in Gaza,
Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' political wing chairman,
Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas member
Mohammed al-Masri, and the Israeli defence minister
Yoav Gallant. The move came two and a half weeks after Khan learned of accusations of sexual assault made against him. Khan said that the warrants were not issued in an attempt to protect himself from the accusations.
The Guardian said a "well-placed source" had told it that the decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli and Hamas figures had already been made when Khan was told of the accusations and warrants were already being drafted. Biden and Netanyahu's responses were rebuffed by US attorney
Kenneth Roth, who led
Human Rights Watch for 29 years. Statements of support for Khan and the ICC were made in the US and elsewhere. US member of Congress
Ilhan Omar said that the ICC "must be allowed to conduct its work independently and without interference." Government representatives of Australia, France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, Norway, Chile, Canada, South Africa, Maldives, Oman and Jordan expressed support for the ICC independence. According to Roth, "These charges are not about Israel's right to defend itself, which no one questions. They're about how Israel has chosen to defend itself, and no cause, no matter how just, can be used as an excuse to commit war crimes." The Israeli human rights organisation
B'Tselem said: "The era of impunity for Israeli decision-makers is over." In June 2024, 93 nations including the aforementioned reiterated their support for the ICC's independence.
Arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials On 17 March 2023, following an
investigation of
war crimes,
crimes against humanity and
genocide, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued
arrest warrants for
Vladimir Putin, the
president of Russia, and
Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian commissioner for children's rights, alleging responsibility for the war crime of
unlawful deportation and transfer of children during the
Russo-Ukrainian War. The warrant against Putin is the first against the leader of a
permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council. As of June 2024, the ICC has also issued arrest warrants for
Viktor Sokolov,
Sergey Kobylash,
Sergei Shoigu and
Valery Gerasimov, all of whom are officers in the Russian military accused of directing attacks at civilian objects and the
crime against humanity of "inhumane acts" under the
Rome Statute. On 12 December 2025
Moscow City Court found that “ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan unlawfully prosecuted Russian citizens in The Hague” and that the ICC “instructed the judges of the chamber to issue patently unlawful arrest warrants.” and sentenced Karim Khan to 15 years imprisonment in absentia, while eight ICC staff, including the former court president
Piotr Hofmański, were sentenced in absentia to prison terms ranging from 3.5 to 15 years. ==Sanctions==