US federal judge blocks Trump’s sanctions against anti-Israel UN envoy Albanese |
A US federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked American sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinians, claiming Donald Trump’s administration likely violated her free speech rights.
Albanese, who has long been accused of antisemitism and extremist rhetoric against Israel, was sanctioned by the Trump administration last year for alleged “political and economic warfare” against the US and Israel. As UN special rapporteur on the West Bank and Gaza, she has recommended the International Criminal Court pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli and American nationals.
The sanctions bar her from entering the US and banking there. Albanese has said the sanctions have been devastating, barring her from work opportunities and everyday financial transactions.
Albanese’s husband and their US-born underage daughter, who is an American citizen, sued the Trump administration in February, alleging that the US sanctions are “effectively debanking her and making it nearly impossible to meet the needs of her daily life.”
The lawsuit claimed the sanctions violate First Amendment free speech protections, bar the family from accessing its home in an unreasonable seizure under the Fourth Amendment, and violate Fifth Amendment due process rights.
US District Judge Richard Leon ruled Wednesday in Washington that Albanese’s residency outside the US does not undercut her protections under the First Amendment of the US Constitution and that the Trump administration........