Federal judge blocks US sanctions against UN expert on occupied Palestinian territories

A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked US sanctions against Francesca Albanese, a UN expert on the Palestinian territories, finding that the Trump administration likely violated her free speech rights by imposing the measures after she criticized US ally Israel’s war on Gaza.

The sanctions barred her from entering the US and banking there. Albanese, an Italian lawyer who is UN special rapporteur on the Israel-occupied Palestinian territories, recommended the international criminal court pursue war crimes prosecutions against Israeli and US nationals.

US secretary of state Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions on Albanese in July 2025, following an executive order by Trump authorizing such action against individuals involved with the ICC’s investigation of Israel’s actions in Gaza.

Albanese’s husband and daughter, who is a US 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”.

US district judge Richard Leon in Washington DC found 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 sought to regulate her speech because of the “idea or message expressed”.

“Albanese has done nothing more than speak!” Leon wrote in his opinion. “It is undisputed that her recommendations have no binding effect on the ICC’s actions-they are nothing more than her opinion.”

Albanese has described sanctions as part of a broader US strategy to weaken international accountability mechanisms.

Reuters contributed reporting