US reimposes sanctions on UN expert after judge temporarily halted them for violating rights

The United States has reimposed sanctions on the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories for revealing the Israeli regime's genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The US Treasury Department wrote on its website on Wednesday that it had reimposed its financial sanctions on Francesca Albanese. The Treasury Department notice came after US Federal Judge Richard Leon suspended the sanctions against Albanese in mid‑May.

Albanese, who is Italian, has been at the forefront of criticizing the Israeli regime for its genocide in Gaza since October 2023, as well as for other atrocities in the West Bank. She has strongly criticized Israel's atrocities against the Palestinians in her role as independent UN Human Rights Council special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories.

Albanese has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue investigations into Israeli and US officials, prosecuting the individuals accountable for the genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The US State Department has accused Albanese of pursuing “illegitimate and baseless” investigations into Israel's genocidal actions in Gaza and US military conduct.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, announcing sanctions against her in July last year, said Albanese has “spewed unabashed antisemitism, expressed support for terrorism and open contempt for the United States, Israel and the West.”

Francesca Albanese: Israel must be sanctioned!

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese was the guest of this episode of Face to Face.

The sanctions bar Albanese from entering the US and carrying out banking transactions.

Albanese’s husband, Massimiliano Cali, has sued the US government on behalf of their child, a US citizen who is still a minor, asserting that the US sanctions are “effectively debanking her and making it nearly impossible to meet the needs of her daily life.”

Judge Leon said in his ruling earlier this month that the sanctions slapped on Albanese violated her rights. He pointed out that the paralyzing sanctions slapped on her by the US government were based entirely on her calls for ICC accountability.

“Albanese has done nothing more than speak,” he wrote, stressing that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC.

The Hague‑based court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant.

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