On May 28, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) updated the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list to include Francesca Albanese, the UN human rights expert on Palestine, without providing detailed justification.
Albanese serves as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories. Her criticism of Israeli policy has made her a target of the Trump administration.
In July 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced sanctions against Albanese, accusing her of biased and malicious actions against Israel and citing her recommendation that the International Criminal Court (ICC) issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. The ICC acted on that recommendation in November 2024.
The sanctions bar Albanese from entering the United States, freeze any assets she holds there, and prohibit U.S. entities from transacting with her. Albanese, an Italian citizen, has family in the United States, including a daughter who is a U.S. citizen, and owns a home there.
In February 2026, Albanese’s family sued the Trump administration, arguing that the sanctions upended her life, including preventing her from accessing bank accounts. The lawsuit also accused the administration of seeking to intimidate those who speak out about Israeli human rights violations.
On May 13, Judge Richard Leon, a George W. Bush appointee, issued a temporary halt to the sanctions, ruling that the Trump administration had used the measures to restrict Albanese’s constitutionally protected free speech. The judge also noted that Albanese’s recommendations were not binding on the ICC. Following the ruling, Albanese was removed from the sanctions list.
The Trump administration appealed and vowed to re-list her as soon as possible. The latest move came without clear explanation.
Albanese has repeatedly stated that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a view shared by many international human rights experts. More than 75,000 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip since 2023.
The Trump administration has also sanctioned nine ICC judges and several prosecutors over investigations into alleged violations by U.S. and Israeli forces. Legal experts condemn these sanctions as an attack on international law, designed to shield the U.S. and its allies from accountability.
