the hague
\nFacing US sanctions, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was on Thursday awarded the European Union\u2019s top rights prize, in a show of support that risks upsetting President Donald Trump.
\n\u201cThe European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognises the important work of the court in upholding international law and justice,\u201d said European Parliament chief Roberta Metsola in announcing the award.
\nThe ICC thanked the European Parliament for giving it the Sakharov Prize \u201cat a time when the Court and its officials face unprecedented challenges\u201d.
\n\u201cAgainst this backdrop, the Sakharov Prize carries particular significance, reaffirming the importance of independent judicial institutions and of those who work to uphold international law,\u201d ICC President Tomoko Akane said.
\nThis month, the United States announced sanctions against the ICC aimed at crippling the day-to-day operations of the court, which tries individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
\nTrump\u2019s administration has vowed to dismantle the court \u201cbrick by brick\u201d, furious that judges have issued an arrest warrant for Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged crimes in Gaza.
\nThe win comes after ex-ICC judge Navi Pillay, who also served as UN rights chief, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize this month \u2014 a choice Trump slammed as \u201cdisgraceful\u201d, arguing the award should have gone to him.
\nThe EU has already thrown its support behind the ICC in the face of the US sanctions \u2014 which will come into force in six months \u2014 and has said it is \u201cready to take any necessary measures\u201d to make sure the court can keep working.
\n\u201cThe International Criminal Court must be free to pursue its mission, independently, and without pressure or intimidation,\u201d EU chief Ursula von der Leyen posted online after the prize was announced.
\nBrussels is hoping to use the delay before the sanctions are applied to try to talk the US down, but is also eyeing implementing a \u201cblocking statute\u201d to shield the ICC from Washington.
\nThree finalists
\nSet up in 1988 and named after Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, the EU prize is bestowed annually on individuals or organisations to recognise their fight for human rights or democracy.
\nThe ICC was among three finalists this year, alongside Tanzania opposition leader Tundu Lissu and twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi, representing those prosecuted by the Iranian government.
\nThe nominees are put forward by the political groupings in the EU, and the winner is chosen by senior lawmakers. An award ceremony will be held in December.
\nLissu, head of Tanzania\u2019s opposition Chadema party, was detained in April 2025. He faces a possible death penalty if convicted of treason for allegedly inciting the public to boycott elections last year.
\nTaraneh 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.
\nOther recent high-profile winners of the Sakharov prize have been Venezuelan opposition chief Maria Corina Machado, deceased Russian Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and the people of Ukraine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
the hague Facing US sanctions, the International Criminal Court (ICC) was on Thursday awarded the European Union\u2019s top rights prize, in a show of support that risks upsetting President Donald Trump. \u201cThe European Union is built on respect for multilateralism and international institutions, and this prize recognises the important work of the court in upholding …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":104738,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104779,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104766\/revisions\/104779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}