The European Parliament has awarded the 2026 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the International…

The choice comes while the court is under pressure from the United States. The Trump administration announced sanctions against the ICC this month, due to take effect in six months, after the court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged crimes in Gaza. EU leaders have said the court must be able to work independently, and Brussels is considering legal measures to shield it from the sanctions.

The other finalists were Tanzanian opposition leader Tundu Lissu, who is detained and could face the death penalty if convicted of treason, and Iranian twin sisters Taraneh and Romina Rahimi. Taraneh has been sentenced to death and Romina to 36 years in prison after they took part in anti-government protests.

That shortlist is the detail I keep returning to. It puts an international court, a detained political leader and two imprisoned sisters into one contest, as if their courage and importance could be arranged on a podium. I don't think they can.

I do understand the choice. Giving the prize to the ICC says that Parliament wants to defend the machinery of international justice, not only honour people after that machinery has failed them. An award doesn't make every court decision correct. It does make a public argument that governments should challenge those decisions through law, rather than trying to disable the court for reaching them.

So I don't read the winner as “more deserving” than the other finalists. I read it as a declaration of what the European Parliament thinks most urgently needs protecting right now. That is a clearer use for a prize than pretending it has discovered the single bravest person or cause of the year. There isn't a sensible podium for this.