The United States has lifted sanctions against Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, a week after a federal judge ruled the measures curtailed her free speech rights.
In a brief update on its website on May 20, the US Treasury listed Albanese under “Removal of designations related to the International Criminal Court.”
The announcement came after Judge Richard Leon issued a temporary injunction against the sanctions in response to a lawsuit filed in February by Albanese’s husband and daughter. The suit argued the sanctions were imposed as punishment for speaking out against Israel’s human rights abuses against Palestinians.
Judge Leon found that the Trump administration sought to regulate the UN expert’s speech because of “the ideas or message expressed.”
The Trump administration imposed the sanctions after accusing Albanese of “biased and malicious activities” and “lawfare,” including recommending that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
“There is no dispute that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions—they are merely her opinions,” Leon said in his ruling.
Albanese did not immediately respond to the May 20 announcement, but she previously said the sanctions were “calculated to undermine my mandate.” In a statement on social media platform X after the judge’s order last week, Albanese welcomed it and thanked her husband and daughter for “bravely defending me” and “all who have helped so far.”
The US Treasury imposed the sanctions in July last year after Albanese published a report accusing 48 companies, including US tech giants Microsoft, Alphabet (Google’s parent company), and Amazon, of complicity in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
Albanese has served as UN rapporteur since May 2022, one of several independent human rights experts appointed by the UN Human Rights Council members.
Under Trump, Washington used sanctions as a tool to pressure supporters of Palestinians and other progressive causes, including climate action. Earlier this week, the Trump administration sanctioned four activists involved in flotilla attempts to break Israel’s siege of Gaza, accusing the organizers of seeking to reach the Palestinian territory “to support Hamas” without evidence.
Washington also sanctioned ICC judges and prosecutors after the court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan filed charges against Israeli officials in 2024 for “crimes against humanity and war crimes” in Gaza.
