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The United States has removed sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, after a federal judge ruled the measures violated her constitutional right to free speech.
The Treasury Department's website confirmed the removal of Albanese's designation from the Specially Designated Nationals list, a blacklist that had effectively frozen her out of global financial systems, including major credit cards and banking transactions. The reversal came days after US District Judge Richard Leon granted a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from enforcing the sanctions.
In his ruling, Leon wrote that protecting freedom of speech is "always" in the public interest, finding that the administration had targeted Albanese because of the "idea or message expressed" rather than for lawful national security reasons.
Albanese, an Italian national based in Tunisia, has served as the Human Rights Council's special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza since 2022, a role that tasks her with monitoring human rights conditions in the occupied territories. She has been a prominent and polarizing figure, placing herself at the center of international debates over Israel's military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023.
Among her most contested statements was her assertion that the victims of the October 7 attacks were killed not because of their Jewish identity but as a consequence of Israeli actions, a comment that drew widespread condemnation.
She has also urged the International Criminal Court to pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials over operations in Gaza, and she produced a report identifying corporations, including Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Palantir, as allegedly facilitating Israeli occupation on Palestinian lands.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the original sanctions in July, accusing Albanese of waging a "campaign of political and economic warfare" against the US and Israel, and of having "spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West." Albanese has denied allegations of antisemitism, which have also been leveled at her by Israel.
The legal challenge to the sanctions was initiated in February by Albanese's husband, World Bank economist Massimiliano Cali, and the couple's daughter, who holds US citizenship. The lawsuit argued that the measures unlawfully restricted constitutionally protected expression.
The sanctions had barred Albanese from entering the United States, using American banking and payment infrastructure, and conducting any business with US-based individuals or entities, constraints that effectively disrupted her ability to function in her international role.
The case touches on long-running tensions between the United States and United Nations mechanisms that scrutinize its allies. The special rapporteur position is an unpaid, independent mandate established by the Human Rights Council; rapporteurs are not UN employees but independent experts appointed to report on specific human rights situations.
The use of economic sanctions against an individual in such a role was widely described by legal observers and UN officials as unprecedented and a potential threat to the broader system of international human rights monitoring.
Albanese has been among the most vocal international voices accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, a characterization Israel and the United States strongly reject. The episode now adds a significant legal precedent to a debate that has increasingly blurred the lines between diplomatic pressure, legal accountability, and freedom of expression.
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