THE HAGUE, Netherlands — At the same time he sought war crimes charges this year against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the International Criminal Court faced allegations that he tried for more than a year to force a nurse to enter into a sexual relationship.

Karim Khan has categorically denied the allegations, and court officials have suggested they may have been made as part of a smear campaign against Israeli intelligence.

The Associated Press gathered details of the charges through documents shared with the court’s independent watchdog and interviews with eight ICC officials and people close to the woman.

Here are some of the key findings from the AP investigation.

What are the charges?

Among the allegations provided to the AP is that Khan noticed the woman working in another department at the ICC and moved her to his office, a transfer that included a salary increase. Their time together reportedly increased after a private dinner in London, where Khan took the woman’s hand and complained about his marriage. She became a presence on official trips and meetings with dignitaries.

During one such trip, Khan allegedly asked the woman to rest with him on a hotel bed and then “sexually touched her,” according to the documents. Later, he came to her room at 3 am and knocked on the door for 10 minutes.

Other alleged non-consensual behavior cited in the documents included locking his office door and putting his hand in her pocket. He also allegedly asked her on several occasions to go on a vacation together.

Khan, 54, said in a statement that there was “no truth to the suggestion of wrongdoing” and that in 30 years of scandal-free work he had always stood by victims of harassment and abuse sexual.

Khan added that he would be willing, if asked, to cooperate with any investigation, saying it was essential that the allegations “be carefully heard, examined and given due process.”

Where are the charges?

Two co-workers to whom the woman confided at the ICC headquarters in The Hague reported the alleged misconduct in early May to the court’s independent watchdog, which says it interviewed the woman and closed the investigation after five days when she opted not to file a formal complaint. . Khan himself was never questioned.

But the matter may not be over.

While the woman, who still works at the tribunal, declined to comment to the AP, those close to her say her initial reluctance was driven by distrust of the domestic watchdog and has asked the member-state body that oversees the ICC to launch an external probe. An ICC official with knowledge of the matter who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity confirmed that the request is still being considered.

Paivi Kaukoranta, a Finnish diplomat who currently serves as president of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which oversees the court, did not comment specifically when asked if he had launched a new investigation.

But she left the door open for future action.

In a statement, she asked people to respect the integrity and confidentiality of the process, “including any possible further steps if necessary.”

What happened to the war crimes charges?

In a few days after the filing of the case, the work of the court continued. Khan on May 20 sought arrest warrants against Netanyahu, his defense minister and three Hamas leaders on war crimes charges. A three-judge panel is now evaluating that request.

US President Joe Biden’s administration said it was blindsided by the move and Israel’s allies in Congress also took advantage of the coming scandal.

In announcing the charges, Khan suggested that outside forces were trying to derail his investigation.

“I insist that all attempts to obstruct, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately,” Khan said.

Israel has waged an influence campaign against the court since the ICC admitted Palestine as a member and in 2015 opened a preliminary inquiry into what the court called “the situation in the State of Palestine”.

The Guardian newspaper in London and several Israeli news outlets reported this summer that Israeli intelligence agencies over the past decade had targeted senior ICC staff, including putting Khan’s predecessor under surveillance and showing up at her home with envelopes full of cash to discredit her.

Netanyahu himself, in the days leading up to Khan’s announcement of the war crimes charges, called on the world’s democracies to “use every means at their disposal” to block the court from what he called “an outrage of historic proportions “.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry referred AP questions about the case to the prime minister’s office, which did not respond. The US State Department declined to discuss the matter, but said in a statement that it “takes any allegation of sexual harassment seriously, and we would expect the court to do the same.”