Karim Asad Ahmad Khan KC (born 30 March 1970) is a British lawyer who has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2021.

In 2008, he was appointed Lead Counsel to former Le Monde journalist Florence Hartmann, who had served as chief spokesperson to ICTY and ICTR prosecutor Carla del Ponte, when she was charged with contempt of court.

[citation needed] 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.

[15] He led the team that advised Cham and Albanian communities in relation to their expulsion from Greece, and subsequent expropriation of property after the Second World War.

[citation needed] 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.

[19] 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).

[28][16] 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.

"[30] 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.

[36] 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.

[39][40] On 24 April 2024, Khan was sent a letter signed by 12 Republican U.S. senators[c] 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.

"[45] On 20 May 2024, on the advice of a panel of legal experts,[d] Khan applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas's leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.

"[53] Government representatives of Australia,[54] France, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Denmark, Norway, Chile, Canada, South Africa, Maldives, Oman and Jordan expressed support for the ICC independence.

[58] 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.

[59][60] [61] On 13 February 2025, the United States Department of the Treasury added Khan to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, barring him from entering the US and freezing his US assets.

Anonymous sources close to the alleged victim reportedly claimed that she distrusted the court's watchdog and requested an external probe to investigate the case.

[65][66][67] Khan denied the allegations of misconduct in a public statement, adding, "This is a moment in which myself and the international criminal court are subject to a wide range of attacks and threats.

[69] U.S. Congress members have initiated an investigation to determine whether the allegations against Khan have compromised his judgment and influenced him to pursue war crime charges against Israeli officials.

[69] The Guardian previously reported that Khan's precursor, Fatou Bensouda, was threatened by the Mossad director Yossi Cohen in an attempt to dissuade her from opening war crime inquiries against Israel.