British-Pakistani lawyer elected next chief prosecutor of ICC

British-Pakistani lawyer Karim Khan has been elected as the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Karim Khan will replace Fatou Bensouda from the Gambia, and as he starts his nine-year term he faces a daunting task.

Taking it to social media, the President of the Assembly of States Parties, O-Gon Kwon has congratulated Khan on his election. 

As being reported, the British lawyer Khan who is also Queens Counsel, won the votes of 72 out of 123 countries.

In the second round of voting, won against three other candidates- Carlos Castresana Fernández, from Spain, Prosecutor of the Court of Auditors of his country; Francesco Lo Voi, of Italy, Chief Prosecutor of Palermo; and Fergal Gaynor, from Ireland, Deputy International Co-Prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal and Senior Counsel at the ICC.

Karim Khan was appointed as Special Adviser by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in 2018, to head a UN investigative team assisting the Iraqi Government to hold ISIL terrorists accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity and genocide.

He served as Legal Adviser at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) until 2000.

During 2006-2007  he was Lead Defence counsel to former President of Liberia Charles Taylor before the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL).

Khan has worked as a Legal Officer at the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) between 1997 and 1998.

From 1993 to1996 Karim Khan was a Crown Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service of England and Wales, and a Senior Crown Prosecutor in 1995.