Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down on a “temporary basis” as an investigation into rape allegations against him take place, the court announced on Friday.

Khan was also accused of harassing staff who supported his accuser, including demoting several people

Women’s rights groups, who called for Khan to step down last year, after his aide accused him of severe abuse, welcome the announcement.

“In any other professional setting, someone facing such serious allegations would have been expected to step down months ago,” Eimear Shine, a spokesperson for The Hague-based Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, said.

Meanwhile, Khan’s bank accounts in his home country of the UK are frozen in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sanctions on the ICC for “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.”

The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Khan issued the arrest warrants against Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant in order to deflect attention from the rape charges brought against him.

Additionally, a senior Western diplomat with firsthand knowledge of the ICC case told the Jerusalem Post last week that Khan issued the warrants against the Israeli leaders in order to “give countries like Germany and Canada the excuse they need to turn against the Israeli government.”

(YWN’s Jerusalem desk is keeping you updated after tzeis ha’Shabbos in Israel)