Member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) voted on Friday by a majority to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan over misconduct claims, during a special session at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

According to diplomatic sources, 82 out of the court’s 125 members voted by a secret ballot to dismiss the prosecutor, surpassing the absolute majority threshold (63) needed for removal.

Thirteen voted against removal, while 15 abstained.

It is the first time in the ICC’s 24-year history that member states have voted to remove a sitting chief prosecutor from office.

Friday’s vote comes shortly following extraordinary threats by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Washington would “dismantle the ICC - brick by brick, if necessary,” while most of the court’s judges and prosecutors, including Khan, have been sanctioned by the US over their work on the Palestine and Afghanistan war crimes investigations.

The disciplinary process against Khan emerged in the wake of his decision to seek arrest warrants over two years ago for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, along with three Hamas leaders, over alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza since October 2023.

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Senior lawyers and legal figures in the UK have warned that the prosecution for contempt of court of a leading human rights barrister who represented Palestine Action activists is having a chilling effect across the bar.

Rajiv Menon KC is alleged to have breached the judge’s directions in a closing speech he delivered in January at the conclusion of the first trial of six Palestine Action defendants accused of causing criminal damage to weapons at an Israeli arms factory outside Bristol.

Menon is alleged, in particular, to have breached the judge’s directions by reminding the jury of their right to acquit on conscience – something the trial judge, Mr Justice Johnson, had barred the defence from alluding to.

On Wednesday evening, Riel Karmy-Jones KC, chair of the Criminal Bar Association, told an online meeting of senior legal figures in support of Menon that his case is already impacting the work of lawyers, who she said are “changing their speeches or being told to change them”.

“And that really can’t be ignored, because people at the criminal bar have become uncertain and scared of what they can and can’t say, scared that somehow they might be, at the end of a trial where they have faithfully represented their client themselves, facing a charge of criminal contempt,” Karmy-Jones said.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has approved the US use of some UK bases for “defensive” air strikes on Iran, in a continuation of a policy introduced by his predecessor Keir Starmer, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

According to sources who spoke to Bloomberg on condition of anonymity, Starmer held a meeting of senior ministers and officials on Friday, in which it was decided that US planes could continue to use bases at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

The sources said that Burnham was briefed on the discussion and agreed with the decision, confirming that he would likely continue Starmer’s policy throughout the renewed US operations.