Karim Ahmad Khan appointed Chief Prosecutor for International Criminal Court

Karim Ahmad Khan appointed Chief Prosecutor for International Criminal Court

British lawyer, Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, a specialist in international criminal law and international human rights law was sworn in as the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday.

Khan (51), who takes over from Fatou Bensouda, begins his nine-year tenure with one of the most challenging tasks, to probe the actions committed by Israel in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem since June 2014.

Khan is an experienced lawyer in the international courts and served as a prosecutor, investigator, and defence attorney earlier. He has decided to reach out to nations that are yet not members of the court to end impunity for atrocities and to try to hold trials in countries where crimes are committed.

United States of America, China and Russia are among those powerful nations that do not recognize the ICC and are not part of it.

Third person to hold the role, Khan, promises to build stronger cases on the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal. With countries that are yet not a part of the 123 member states, Khan says, he would like to work out an understanding with them to achieve justice.

Khan says it is possible to eradicate genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity if the nations come together on a common platform.

Recently, Khan led a United Nations team to Iraq to probe atrocities and provided clear evidence to the UN Security Council of a genocide committed against the Yazidi community in 2014.