Judge Blocks US Sanctions Against UN Palestine Expert Francesca Albanese |
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A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s sanctions on Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the occupied Palestinian territories, concluding that the sanctions violated her right to free speech after she called for Israeli officials to be charged with war crimes.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said that the sanctions against Albanese violate her right to free speech, as they aimed to “punish” and “suppress disfavored expression” after her recommendations to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions – they are nothing more than her opinion.”
Albanese had called on the ICC to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders involved in the genocide in Gaza – including Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, and Defense Minister Israel Katz — after outlining how each of these figures played a part in the “infliction of collective torment and settler colonial genocide” in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed sanctions on Albanese in July 2025 based on Trump’s executive order targeting those “directly........