New ICC prosecutor ‘to focus on strong cases’

THE HAGUE: British barrister Karim Khan took over as the International Criminal Court’s top prosecutor yesterday with a pledge to improve its track record by taking only its strongest cases to trial.

Khan faces many challenges at a time of fierce political pressure on the world’s permanent war crimes tribunal. The ICC is handling a number of sensitive cases, including in the Palestinian territories and

Afghanistan, and members of the prosecutor’s office were personally targeted by financial sanctions while Donald Trump was US president.

Khan, 51, said one of his main tasks would be improving the performance of the office. Since opening in 2002, the ICC has convicted five men for war crimes and crimes against humanity, all African militia leaders from Democratic Republic of Congo,

Mali and Uganda. Sentences ranged from nine to 30 years in prison. Prosecutors dropped or lost at least three major cases, or failed to gather enough evidence in others to proceed to trial. |