{"id":22519,"date":"2021-02-13T21:08:04","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T21:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/?p=22519"},"modified":"2021-02-13T21:08:04","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T21:08:04","slug":"rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc","title":{"rendered":"Ruto\u2019s former lawyer Khan now in charge at ICC"},"content":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya:<\/strong> Lawyer Karim Khan, the fast-talking Queen\u2019s Counsel lawyer who represented Deputy President William Ruto in the International Criminal Court (ICC), is the new court\u2019s prosecutor.<\/p>\n

Given to verbose and dropping phrases, Khan was elected by Assembly of State Parties for a nine-year term, replacing Gambian Fatou Bensouda. The court\u2019s first prosecutor was Louis Moreno Ocampo who initiated the Kenyan cases.<\/p>\n

His position now puts him at the centre of a raging storm with regard to the situation of lawyer Paul Gicheru, who surrendered to the court, and who had been accused of witness interference by his predecessor. Gicheru\u2019s witness interference case relates to Khan\u2019s former client, Ruto.<\/p>\n

Khan beat three other candidates by garnering 72 votes out of the 123 member states and was largely pushed by Kenya. He beat Fergal Gaynor of Ireland, who was the victims\u2019 lawyer during the Uhuru-Ruto trial.<\/p>\n

Gaynor managed 42 votes, Spain\u2019s Carlos Castresana Fernandez (five votes) and Francesco Lo Voi of Italy with three votes. One member did not vote.<\/p>\n

Khan would have sailed through unopposed but Mauritius and Spain placed a last-minute hurdle by filing objections against him. Mauritius was aggrieved by the fact that he is a British national and the UK had vowed not to abide by the ruling on Chagos Island\u2019s sovereignty by The Hague-based court. Last year, Kenya\u2019s ambassador to Netherlands Lawrence Lenayapa opposed Gaynor, saying he had served as legal representative of parties in active cases.<\/p>\n

Most challenging cases<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be prudent for State Parties to settle for a candidate who would not have to recuse himself from some of the most challenging cases pending before the court,\u201d Lenayapa wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would undoubtedly weaken the stature of the office of the prosecutor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gaynor was the victims\u2019 representative when the ICC withdrew crimes against humanity charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta. His statement, after the withdrawal, may be the reason why Kenya was jittery over his qualification. He said the decision was a disappointment to over 2,000 victims of crimes committed during the 2007\/08 post-election chaos.<\/p>\n

\u201cA prosecutor should command the respect of the judges, inspire the confidence of its own staff and build the confidence of states and victims. At a time when the court is faced with many difficulties, we need to work together to elect a candidate who will strengthen and build confidence in the office of the prosecutor,\u201d Lenayapa said.<\/p>\n

Kenya also wanted two more shortlisted candidates \u2013 Susan Okalany, who is a High Court judge and Richard Roy, a judge in the same court \u2013 disqualified. The Ambassador said Roy could not sit as a prosecutor as the current deputy prosecutor was from his country, Canada.<\/p>\n

Khan has been leading a team set up to investigate allegations of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Islamic State in Iraq.<\/p>\n

His first task is to save the reputation of the court and enhance its acceptance as more countries view it as political machinery. As the court\u2019s foremost ambassador, he will have to debunk the claim harped by defense lawyers, including himself, that the ICC is a political tool.<\/p>\n

There is also the question of Israel-Palestinian conflict in Gaza and the relationship with the United States, which he will have to crack. Former US President Donald Trump slapped Bensouda with a travel ban and assets freeze over an inquiry on US forces\u2019 war crimes in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

At the opening of Ruto\u2019s trial on September 9, 2013, Khan described the investigations in to the Kenyan cases as \u201cexceptionally deficient\u201d and submissions by Bensouda \u201cvacuous.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AfricaPress-Kenya: Lawyer Karim Khan, the fast-talking Queen\u2019s Counsel lawyer who represented Deputy President William Ruto in the International Criminal Court (ICC), is the new court\u2019s prosecutor. Given to verbose and dropping phrases, Khan was elected by Assembly of State Parties for a nine-year term, replacing Gambian Fatou Bensouda. The court\u2019s first prosecutor was Louis Moreno […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":22521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,11],"tags":[493,6331,7468],"class_list":["post-22519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-photo","tag-dp-william-ruto","tag-icc","tag-karim-khan"],"yoast_head":"\nRuto\u2019s former lawyer Khan now in charge at ICC - kenya<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lawyer Karim Khan, the fast-talking Queen\u2019s Counsel lawyer who represented Deputy President William Ruto in the International Crimina\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ruto\u2019s former lawyer Khan now in charge at ICC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lawyer Karim Khan, the fast-talking Queen\u2019s Counsel lawyer who represented Deputy President William Ruto in the International Crimina\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"kenya\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-13T21:08:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/02\/rutos_former_lawy6028260000da8.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Ruto\u2019s former lawyer Khan now in charge at ICC\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-13T21:08:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc\"},\"wordCount\":603,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/kenya\/sites\/28\/2021\/02\/rutos_former_lawy6028260000da8.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"DP William Ruto\",\"ICC\",\"Karim Khan\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"photo\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/kenya\/photo\/rutos-former-lawyer-khan-now-in-charge-at-icc\",\"name\":\"Ruto\u2019s former lawyer Khan now in charge at ICC - 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