He became known in The Hague for his high-profile clients, among them Saif el-Qaddafi, son of the Libyan dictator. When Mr. Khan was assigned to act as court-appointed lawyer for Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia charged with terror, murder, rape and other war crimes, Mr. Taylor fired him, sending Mr. Khan storming out of the court.
Given Mr. Khan’s previous roles as defense counsel “in a number of ongoing cases before the I.C.C.,’’ the chances are “considerable” that he will have to recuse himself from several cases, the committee noted.
Perhaps his most contentious case involved his defense of Vice President William Ruto of Kenya, who was charged with crimes against humanity during postelection violence in 2007. The I.C.C. judges declared a mistrial because of “a troubling incidence of witness interference and intolerable political meddling” by Kenyan officials. Mr. Khan was not accused of any wrongdoing, but the court has charged three Kenyans with “witness tampering” in the case.
Mr. Khan’s predecessors, Ms. Bensouda and Luis Moreno Ocampo, were both appointed by consensus. But this time a number of countries and civil society groups, wanting a more transparent and competitive selection process, set up a special committee to interview candidates.
An initial list of 89 candidates was whittled down to a handful, but the choices drew complaints that only one, Fergal Gaynor, an Irish lawyer, seemed highly qualified. More candidates were added to the list and were required to explain publicly how they would run the prosecutor’s office, a job some have called “mission impossible.”
Straw polls eventually produced two front-runners: Mr. Gaynor and Mr. Khan, both of whom had extensive experience in international courts.
But neither gained enough support to achieve a consensus. As countries asked for more time, Spain put forward Carlos Castresana as its candidate, and Italy at the last minute proposed Francesco Lo Voi, who had not worked in international law but had built a reputation at home for prosecuting complex, organized-crime cases.
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