A US federal judge has temporarily blocked sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, ruling that the measures likely violated her constitutional right to free speech, media reports said.
According to The Guardian, the ruling was issued on Wednesday after Albanese challenged sanctions that barred her from entering the United States and accessing banking services there.
Albanese, an Italian lawyer serving as the UN special rapporteur on the Israel-occupied Palestinian territories, had previously called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to pursue war crimes investigations involving Israeli and US nationals.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio imposed the sanctions in July 2025 under an executive order signed by President Donald Trump authorizing punitive measures against individuals linked to the ICC’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Albanese’s husband and daughter — the latter a US citizen — filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in February, arguing that the sanctions had effectively “debanked” her and severely disrupted her daily life.
US District Judge Richard Leon in Washington, DC, ruled that Albanese’s residence outside the United States did not negate her First Amendment protections. He stated that the administration appeared to target her because of the views she 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 the sanctions as part of a broader US effort to undermine international accountability mechanisms.
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