US-sanctioned International Criminal Court shortlisted for EU’s top rights prize
European lawmakers say Sakharov Prize shortlist shows they are committed to safeguarding the work of the ICC, which in 2024 issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu over Gaza war
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The International Criminal Court was shortlisted Monday for the European Union’s top rights prize, in what supporters described as a show of support for the institution.
The European Parliament named the Netherlands-based tribunal among the three finalists for its Sakharov Prize alongside Tanzania opposition leader Tundu Lissu and twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, representing those prosecuted by the Iranian government.
Set up in 1988 and named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, the prize is bestowed annually on individuals or organizations to recognize their fight for human rights or democracy.
“In an increasingly fraught global environment, it has never been more important — or more challenging — for MEPs to support them in their struggle,” said Barry Andrews, a centrist EU lawmaker from Ireland.
Contenders are nominated by parliament’s political groups as well as individual lawmakers.
Lissu, head of Tanzania’s opposition Chadema party, was detained in April 2025 and faces a possible death penalty if convicted of treason, for allegedly inciting the public to boycott last year’s elections.
Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, 21, have respectively been sentenced to death and 36 years in prison for having taken part in anti-government protests in Iran.
This month, the US announced sanctions against the ICC, hours after one of its former judges won the Nobel Peace Prize.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has vowed to dismantle the court “brick-by-brick,” furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged crimes in the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, and a past investigation into actions of US soldiers in Afghanistan that the ICC has since closed.
Israel rejects the charges against it, and says all its military actions are conducted in accordance with international law. Hamas leaders, later killed, were also charged.
“We stand by the ICC and its officials, and we are committed to safeguarding its work,” said Yannis Maniatis, a lawmaker with the center-left S&D group, which backed the ICC nomination for the Sakharov Prize.
“Protecting the principles upon which our world is built is essential to defending our democracy and our values.”
Teenage twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi were dragged from their beds after joining anti-regime protests in Iran, according to their family.
Taraneh, now 20, has been sentenced to death. Romina received a 36-year prison sentence. Their family says the sisters were tortured… pic.twitter.com/hUOvjGSAkV
— Fox News World (@FNCGlobalNews) September 15, 2026
The Sakharov Prize winner is to be selected this week ahead of the awards ceremony in December.
The nomination comes after ex-ICC judge Navi Pillay, who also served as UN rights chief, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this month — a choice Trump slammed as “disgraceful,” arguing the award should have gone to him.
South African-born Pillay chaired the Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel, which was created by the UN-backed Human Rights Council in 2021. The commission a year ago concluded Israel was responsible for genocide in Gaza with a specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel, which has refused to cooperate with the commission since it was established, has strenuously denied the charges, and rejected the report as “distorted and false,” with Jerusalem noting its authors’ history of vehemently anti-Israeli positions.
The ICC, founded in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, counts 125 countries as member states, including all EU countries and all members of the NATO alliance apart from the United States and Turkey.
The Times of Israel Community.