The integrity of an inquiry into sexual misconduct allegations towards the chief prosecutor of the worldwide legal courtroom may very well be jeopardised by his ties to the physique tasked with the investigation, courtroom employees have mentioned.
The Guardian understands numerous courtroom officers have raised considerations about Karim Khan’s hyperlinks to the UN watchdog being lined as much as examine the claims.
A number of the considerations, which have been raised on the highest ranges of the courtroom, relate to the prosecutor’s spouse, a human rights lawyer who beforehand labored as an investigator on the UN watchdog, the Workplace of Inside Oversight Companies (OIOS). Dato Shyamala Alagendra can also be alleged to have acted inappropriately after the claims towards her husband had been made, together with contacting the alleged sufferer.
A number of ICC sources mentioned the considerations about potential conflicts of curiosity additionally associated to the chief prosecutor’s hyperlinks with the OIOS’s head of investigations, whom Khan is known to have employed as one in all his high officers once they labored on the UN.
On Monday, the courtroom’s governing physique, the meeting of state events, introduced an exterior inquiry into the allegations after relieving an inner physique of re-examining the matter due partially to “perceptions of potential and future conflicts of curiosity”.
The meeting didn’t disclose who would conduct the investigation, however diplomatic sources mentioned it has requested the OIOS to take action and was finalising an settlement.
The scope and formation of the inquiry has been the topic of protracted closed-door negotiations between the ICC’s member states as they grapple with a deepening disaster for the courtroom amid acute geopolitical sensitivities.
The exterior inquiry will study the allegations towards Khan, which, the Guardian reported final month, embrace claims of undesirable sexual touching and “abuse” over an prolonged interval, in addition to coercive behaviour and abuse of authority.
Attorneys for Khan, 54, have mentioned he denies all of the allegations and that he “seems to be ahead to partaking totally” with the inquiry. The alleged sufferer, an ICC employees member in her 30s who labored straight for the chief prosecutor, has declined to remark.
Based on a number of ICC sources, the girl has advised courtroom authorities she can be prepared to cooperate with the investigation offered it was sufficiently impartial, however is alleged to have expressed considerations concerning the OIOS.
Khan is going through a backlash amongst lots of his employees over his determination to disregard recommendation from senior officers that he ought to take a depart of absence till the inquiry is resolved, 4 sources within the prosecutor’s workplace mentioned.
“Workers are boiling that he has unilaterally determined to remain on,” one supply mentioned. Khan’s senior employees, they added, had conveyed to his two deputy prosecutors that he ought to quickly step apart “to stop a chilling impact on witnesses and defend the integrity of the inquiry”.
Claims about Alagendra’s actions
As a few of Khan’s senior employees started to press for an exterior inquiry into the allegations final month, it emerged internally that the OIOS – a watchdog chargeable for inner investigations, audits and inspections of UN companies – was within the working to hold out the investigation.
Inside days, considerations started to be raised amongst senior ICC officers, the employees union, and with the presidency of the meeting about Khan and his spouse’s connections to the OIOS, sources acquainted with the discussions mentioned.
Alagendra, a high-profile worldwide lawyer who specialises in sexual and gender-based crimes, labored on the OIOS from 2019-20 as a senior investigator targeted on sexual harassment and abuse.
One former UN official mentioned Alagendra has “deep connections” on the watchdog. “She was an investigator and is aware of lots of [its] investigators,” they mentioned.
Alagendra’s OIOS ties have raised considerations amongst a bunch of Khan’s employees who discovered in current weeks of how she is alleged to have responded to the claims towards her husband.
Based on 4 sources conscious of the state of affairs, inside days of Khan being knowledgeable of the allegations towards him in early Could, Alagendra contacted and spoke to the alleged sufferer and an ICC employees member, a longstanding adviser to the prosecutor who had reported the allegations internally days earlier.
The sources mentioned the timing and nature of her contacts with each folks have been thought to be uncommon and extremely inappropriate.
On the time, an inner oversight physique on the courtroom was conducting an preliminary inquiry to evaluate the allegations. Inside 5 days of studying of the claims, inner investigators determined towards opening a full investigation.
Alagendra contacted the alleged sufferer shortly after Khan had been advised the allegations can be formally reported, based on a number of ICC sources. She prompt they meet the next day when she can be within the courtroom for a beforehand organized official assembly together with her husband.
Sources briefed on the state of affairs mentioned the alleged sufferer subsequently advised colleagues she discovered the state of affairs involving Khan’s spouse, which included two additional approaches, to be alarming.
In an announcement, Alagendra mentioned: “I’ve by no means mentioned these allegations or any associated inquiry with an alleged sufferer or with anybody from OIOS. Nor have I ever tried to discourage, threaten or intimidate anybody in any respect, not to mention an alleged sufferer or an OTP [office of the prosecutor] employees member, from pursuing or reporting any criticism.”
She added: “These allegations are extraordinarily hurtful to me as a result of all spheres of my life have been dedicated to defending and upholding the rights of the susceptible and deprived. This consists of my work in prioritising the prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes in addition to crimes towards youngsters. My dedication on this regard has at all times been, and continues to be, unwavering.”
Khan’s ties with senior watchdog investigator
The second concern amongst Khan’s employees about his ties to the UN watchdog surfaced when it turned identified that the director of its investigations division beforehand labored intently with Khan on the UN.
It’s understood the senior investigator served as one in all Khan’s high officers from 2018-21 when he ran a UN physique that investigated crimes dedicated by Islamic State militants.
It’s unclear whether or not the official, who didn’t reply to the Guardian’s request for remark, will recuse herself from any involvement within the inquiry into Khan. There isn’t any suggestion of any wrongdoing by her.
Attorneys for Khan mentioned he had not mentioned the allegations with the UN watchdog or its investigations chief and “he has had no communication with that official or for that matter the OIOS itself for some years”.
The president of the meeting of state events declined to remark when requested what steps it was taking to make sure the independence of the OIOS investigation. A diplomat acquainted with the plan to nominate the OIOS prompt it had “inbuilt mechanisms to cope with any potential conflicts”.
The meeting is known to be working with the watchdog to determine how the inquiry will function.
The investigation comes at a delicate second for Khan as a panel of ICC judges continues to contemplate his purposes for arrest warrants towards the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged conflict crimes and crimes towards humanity in Gaza.
Khan has prompt the sexual misconduct allegations could also be a part of a marketing campaign towards him, referring to “a variety of assaults and threats”, nevertheless the Guardian reported on Monday that officers near him don’t consider the allegations are related to any type of plot by hostile exterior actors.
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