U.S. reimposes then later lifts sanctions against UN expert Francesca Albanese after court rulings

The Trump regime has put UN human rights advocate Francesca Albanese back under punitive sanctions for her continued opposition to and scrutiny of Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people. US judge Richard Leon had ordered the lifting of sanctions after legal action by her husband and daughter, who are US citizens, but the government appealed. […] By Skwawkbox

Just a few days ago, a U.S. court ordered the Treasury Department to suspend its penalties on Francesca Albanese, whose work on Israel has drawn accusations of antisemitism.

A notice on the Treasury Department's website showed that it had reimposed a sanctions designation on Ms. Albanese that blacklists her globally, making it impossible for her to use major credit cards or carry out bank transactions.

US reinstates sanctions on UN's Albanese after appeals court pauses ruling The United States has reinstated sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations' special rapporteur on Palestine, after a federal appeals court temporarily paused a lower-court ruling that had blocked the measures on free-speech grounds. The decision was confirmed in a notice posted to the US Treasury's website on Wednesday. The Donald Trump administration sanctioned Albanese in July last year, shortly after her scathing report in which she named over 60 companies, including major US technology firms like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which she said were involved in "the transformation of Israel's economy of occupation to an economy of genocide". The report called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and national judicial systems to pursue investigations and prosecutions of corporate executives and companies. The sanction decision cited her recommendations that the ICC prosecute Israeli officials and executives of US companies. The designation has effectively barred her from travelling to the US and frozen her assets there. Albanese told Middle East Eye that the sanctions have also cut her off from the global financial system, including by blocking her ability to carry out regular daily transactions Read more: US reinstates sanctions on UN's Albanese after appeals court pauses ruling UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese in Belgrade on 17 March 2026 (Andrej Isakovic/AFP)

US reinstates sanctions on UN's Albanese after appeals court pauses ruling Submitted by MEE staff on Thu, 05/28/2026 - 09:43 Special rapporteur Francesca Albanese back on US sanctions list two weeks after judge lifted measures against her UN Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese in Belgrade on 17 March 2026 (Andrej Isakovic/AFP) Off The United States has reinstated sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the United Nations' special rapporteur on Palestine, after a federal appeals court temporarily paused a lower-court ruling that had blocked the measures on free-speech grounds. The decision was confirmed in a notice posted to the US Treasury's website on Wednesday. The Donald Trump administration sanctioned Albanese in July last year, shortly after her scathing report in which she named over 60 companies, including major US technology firms like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which she said were involved in "the transformation of Israel's economy of occupation to an economy of genocide". The report called for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and national judicial systems to pursue investigations and prosecutions of corporate executives and companies. The sanction decision cited her recommendations that the ICC prosecute Israeli officials and executives of US companies. The designation has effectively barred her from travelling to the US and frozen her assets there. Albanese told Middle East Eye that the sanctions have also cut her off from the global financial system, including by blocking her ability to carry out regular daily transactions. In February, a lawsuit was filed by Albanese's husband, Massimiliano Cali, a senior World Bank economist, and the couple's US-born daughter, an American citizen, challenging the sanctions. The family argued that the measures punished Albanese for her public criticism of Israel's genocide in Gaza and effectively cut her off from ordinary financial life. Albanese herself did not sue, after the UN declined to waive her institutional immunity to allow her to bring a claim in her own name. On 13 May, US District Judge Richard Leon issued a temporary injunction blocking the sanctions, siding with Albanese's family, and ruling that the sanctions likely violated the First Amendment by targeting her for her speech. In an opinion, Leon said "protecting the freedom of speech is 'always' in the public interest". He found that her recommendations to the ICC carried no binding force and amounted to her opinion, rather than any concrete action. Leon enjoined the designation in full, rejecting the government's request for narrower relief limited to her relatives. US government appeal The sanctions were reinstated after a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit suspended Leon’s injunction last Friday. The order allowed the government to enforce the designation while the court considers a broader request to freeze the lower-court ruling during the Trump administration’s appeal. The appeals court emphasised that its order, an administrative stay, was procedural and should not be read as a ruling on the merits of the government's broader request. An administrative stay preserves the status quo for a short period while judges weigh a more detailed motion. Spain's leader Sanchez awards UN's Francesca Albanese Order of Civil Merit Read More » As a result, Albanese has been returned to the Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals list. The designation bars US persons from transacting with her, restricts her access to the financial system and prohibits her and her immediate family members from entering the US. The move reverses, for now, a brief window in which the measures were lifted. After Leon's ruling, the State Department confirmed it had temporarily removed Albanese from the list to comply with the injunction, while saying the step did not signal a change in policy. It added that it had appealed and would restore the designation as soon as it was able to. In its appeal, the Justice Department argued that Albanese, an Italian national, falls outside the protection of the US Constitution because she has not lived in the US for around a decade and the speech in question took place abroad. The government's motion described the injunction as "legally indefensible and grossly overbroad". "Yet if allowed to stand, it will undermine important national-security and foreign-policy interests of the United States," the motion read. The appeals court has not said when it will rule on the government's motion for a stay pending appeal. Albanese is among several figures sanctioned by the US over their work investigating international crimes in occupied Palestine. Since February 2025, the Trump administration has sanctioned the ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan, his deputy prosecutors and eight of the court's judges over their work prosecuting war crimes in occupied Palestine and Afghanistan.  Three Palestinian NGOs have also been sanctioned for their engagement with the ICC to provide evidence of alleged crimes by Israeli officials. International law News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

The United States on Wednesday restored sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a U.N. expert on the Palestinian territories, after an appeals court overruled an earlier order prohibiting...