United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Mr. Karim Asad Ahmad Khan of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the Special Adviser and Head of the Investigative Team, which was established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2379 (2017), to support domestic efforts to hold ISIL (Da’esh) accountable by collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the terrorist group ISIL (Da’esh) in Iraq.

Mr. Khan is the first Head of the Investigative Team. He is a barrister and Queen’s Counsel in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with more than 25 years of professional experience as an international criminal law and human rights lawyer. Mr. Khan has extensive experience in acting as prosecutor, victim’s counsel and defence lawyer in domestic and international criminal tribunals, including, but not limited to, the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Mr. Khan holds an LLB (Hons) in law from King’s College, University of London, and various other degrees and qualifications. Mr. Khan has studied and lectured on Islamic law and has published extensively in the area of international criminal justice and human rights.

